Chained
by Kirikizu
Summary: Werewolf Fic. Sasuke was captured by hunters when his family was killed, but the kindness of one of the hunters daughters makes the world so much brighter. He wants to be the best he can for her, but how can he do that while being labeled a monster? Sasusaku
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! Before reading I'd like to warn you guys that Sasuke and Sakura will be slightly OOC. The biggest change would be to Sakura's parents. I kept their names but changed their looks and their personalities to fit this story. I can't have Kizashi with pink hair and still take him seriously.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

Fire and smoke; that was all little Sasuke could see. All around him flames crackled and wood creaked and crumbled. The pungent smoke burned his nose and made his eyes water.

'_Run! Escape and hide!' _

His mother's worried voice repeated over and over in his head. He ran as fast as his little legs could carry him and headed toward the forests that surrounded his family's compound.

Earlier that night, it had seemed like any ordinary evening. His relatives walked between the houses chatting as the returned home from work or just spending the day in town. To an outsider it looked like any other close knit family. But the Uchiha clan was actually a pack of werewolves that controlled the surrounding territory. Their pack was a relatively large one and no one dared bother them with the strength that they wielded. Until now.

Hunters had snuck up on them and caught completely off guard. No one knew how they hadn't caught their scent beforehand or how they managed to get so close undetected. The first shot was extraordinarily loud as it broke the quite hum of night. It was instantly followed by a dull thud as a body collapsed, lifeless, a bullet hole through their head.

The hunters flowed in, moving swiftly coming out from behind the buildings guns blazing. Their heads were covered by hoods with a cloth covering the bottom portion of their face. More shots were fired and cries of pain were heard. The silver bullets tore through skin and bone, its toxic qualities eating away at their bodies.

The surprise quickly wore off as the wolves defended themselves. Loud snarls and growls accompanied the gun shots as clothes were torn and fur and fangs replaced what had first appeared to be normal human bodies.

Sasuke had been sitting in the living room with his parents and brother when the first shot was fired. His elder brother and father had immediately rushed outside to see what was going on. His mother had wrapped her arms around him and held him close. Sasuke began to tremble as the noise of the bloody fight outside began to escalate.

The sound of their front door being kicked in caused both he and his mother to jump. He was quickly ushered to the back door and told to run. He stood frozen stiff and stared at his mother, his eyes wide with fear. She smiled sadly at him and bent down to hug him tightly. She kissed the top of his head and said she loved him. With a final squeeze she pushed him away slightly telling him to run. The last time he would see his mother was her turning to face the three hunters that entered their house. In the blink of an eye, the beautiful woman that was Mikoto Uchiha was replaced with a large black wolf that was determined to defend her youngest son until her last breath. Sasuke finally forced his legs to move when he saw his mother pounce on a hunter that had just rounded the corner.

The hunters had set the houses on fire, attempting to burn anyone who tried to hide inside. As Sasuke made his way towards the forest his way was blocked as a hunter stepped out of a smoking house and raised a gun towards him. He froze as he stared down the barrel of the rifle. As the shot was fired another wolf bounded from the shadows and sunk his teeth into the hunter's arms. The bullet grazed his arm cutting into the skin.

Sasuke yelped as the bullet tore through the flesh of his right arm and drew blood. The silver burned his skin and kept the blood from clotting. It was a minor wound and was no threat to his life; but it sure hurt like hell.

Sasuke didn't know who the wolf was, whether it be a cousin, aunt, or uncle, he couldn't tell. But he knew that he probably wouldn't be able to escape certain death a second time. As the two of them continued their scuffle, Sasuke took the chance to escape into the forest.

He passed by many bodies that were torn and ravaged lying in thick pools of blood. Some of them were his kin, both in human and wolf form. Their bodies were riddled with bullet wounds, arrows, or large gashes from the long knives that the hunters carried with them at all times. He also passed an occasional fallen hunter that had claw marks gouged deep into the bodies or had their throats completely torn out. The smell of blood in this part of the compound was even worse than the smoke, making Sasuke gag and cover his nose as he ran for safety.

After running through the underbrush for a few minutes he turned to look over his shoulder. He could see the dim orange glow of the fires. He slowed to a stop and watched the smoke rise above the tree tops.

Where was he to go? Should he find a place to hide and wait until the hunters left? What if they found him?

The last thought made him cringe. And more morbid thoughts brought tears to his eyes.

Was his mother alright? His father? Brother? Did anyone else get out?

Sasuke sniffed and wiped a few tears from his eyes. His family was strong that's why they had managed to survive in these lands for so many generations. They would surely fight off the hunters and come find him in the morning.

He lifted his head as a new noise reached his ears. Barking. The hunters brought dogs with them. Dogs were no match against a fully grown wolf, but they were brought along for one thing. Tracking.

The barking began to steadily get louder. Sasuke realized that they must have caught his scent and immediately turned and sprinted deeper into the forest.

Sticks tore at his skin and clothes and rocks seemed to jut out of nowhere trying to trip him. But Sasuke didn't slow his pace. He wished he was older. Being only 5 years of age he still was rather new to shifting. Like every werewolf he transformed during the full moon, but every other time took great concentration and control. He had managed it a few times, but now he was too nervous, too scared.

He could hear the barking getting steadily louder and quickened his pace. Sasuke nearly fell when he crashed into a shallow stream. The rocks were slick and the water freezing cold. It would slow his travel immensely but the water would hide his scent from the perusing hounds. After slipping and tumbling over his first few steps he fled downstream.

An hour later Sasuke finally left the shallow waters. His legs were soaked and his toes numb. But his travel in the stream had paid off. He hadn't heard the barking of dogs for quite some time, but he had remained in the river just to be safe. At a much slower pace he wandered the forest. He kept alert, listening for any signs of approaching hunters or family members.

Sasuke was exhausted. He didn't know what time it was but it was surely nearing midnight; if it hadn't already past. His legs were wobbly with exhaustion and struggled to hold up his body. The cut on his arm still burned, but at least the bleeding had finally stopped. His kind had remarkable healing abilities but it was hindered by silver.

Finally giving up, Sasuke made his way over to a rather large tree and curled up near its roots. He shivered from the cold and the pain. Someone would find him soon. His trick would have worked on some stupid dogs, but his family would surely find him once they had dealt with the hunters. With that reassuring thought he drifted off into unconsciousness.

* * *

><p>A gun shot broke the quiet morning air, starling Sasuke awake. His head quickly whipped back and forth looking for any signs of danger. He breathed a sigh of relief when there seemed to be no one around.<p>

But that sound meant that hunters were nearby. He had to get moving. In his haste to escape the night before he had gotten himself lost. Sure, he's been in the forest tons of times, but he was never alone before. In the past, he had always been with his family and was more focused on playing rather than memorizing his surroundings.

After dusting off the dirt and leaves that clung to his shirt he started running again, heading in the opposite direction of the gun shot.

He hadn't been running for more than a few minutes when he burst through a row of bushes and crashed into something. Sasuke let out a small grunt when he landed roughly on the ground.

"Owww…"

His head shot up at the sound. Lying next to him was a little girl. She appeared to be around the same age as he was, with bright pink hair that was tied up in a red ribbon that matched her dress and the greenest eyes he's ever seen. By her scent he could tell she was human. He had gone to town with his mother on multiple occasions and watched as she conversed with the humans. But he himself had never talked to one.

She sat on her knees and inspected her elbow that now adorned a scuff mark from her impact with the ground. She turned to him with a pout on her face, ready to scold him for knocking her down. But as soon as she got a good look at him she gasped. Sasuke was covered in small scrapes and dirt clung to his skin and torn grey shirt. Not to mention the blood stains on his sleeve from where the bullet wound was.

"Don't move!" she ordered. With her small injury forgotten, she jumped to her feet and ran off.

Sasuke's gaze followed her into a rather large house that was nearby. When she disappeared into the door he began to take in his surroundings. He was sitting in the girl's back yard. The light blue house sat on a neatly trimmed grass that was littered with the occasional toy. There were plucked flowers scattered in the grass around him. Apparently she had been out picking flowers before he interrupted her.

He hadn't planned on actually listening to her and staying, but by the time he regained his bearings she was back. The girl burst from her house with a first aid kit clutched tightly in her hands.

"Don't worry, I'll fix you right up!" she smiled happily. Sasuke sat there stunned as the little girl stuck a band-aid on his cheek. He hadn't even noticed the scratch there. "That looks like it hurts." The girl had leaned closer to him and was inspecting his arm. Sasuke flinched away when she raised a hand to touch it.

Seeing as he didn't want her to touch the wound she moved on to another scratch on his leg. She knew that when she had an oww-ies her mommy always put a band-aid on it to make it better, but she never had one as big as that. Her cute neon colored band-aids were too small for that.

Sasuke was unsure of what to do. He couldn't stay here, but this girl seemed nice. Maybe he could hide here until his family came to find him.

"I'm Sakura. Want to be friends? What's your name?" Her closeness was making Sasuke nervous causing him to look away from her, ignoring her questions. "Don't be shy," she smiled sweetly at him. Sasuke glanced at her and couldn't help but give her a small smile in return. She was a bit noisy, but really nice.

"Sakura what happened?" a shout came from the house. A woman exited the house and scanned the yard for her daughter. She was a pretty woman with light grey eyes and light pink hair that reached her lower back. The woman had an apron decorated with a floral pattern wrapped around her waist. Their similar appearances must make her the girl's mother. She became worried when the little girl came barreling into the house and ran out with the first aid kit. She was closely followed by a taller man with short grey hair and had similar eyes to the young girl. But the thing Sasuke noticed the most was that he used a cane and walked with a limp even if he seemed rather young.

Mebuki Haruno gasped at the sight of the battered child and began to take a few hurried steps toward them. But the cocking of a gun and her husband's sharp tone stopped her. "Don't move. Sakura come here," Kizashi Haruno growled.

Sakura was confused as to why her daddy was acting that way. She gasped when he raised his pistol and pointed it at the boy.

Sasuke began to tremble as he stared down the barrel of another gun, not 24 hours after the last one was pointed at him. If he turned and tried to run he would most definitely get shot in the back. But to his surprise the little girl next to him threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, putting herself between him and the gun.

"Sakura get away from him! He's dangerous!" her dad shouted.

She hugged him tighter and shouted back, "No! He's my friend."

Gently Sasuke raised his hands and pulled her arms from around his neck. She looked at him large confused eyes. Now that he was free he stepped away from her and looked back at the man. It was strange, he didn't even know this girl for more than a few minutes but during that time she had been extremely kind to him and even shielded him from a gun. He was practically dead anyway, the least he could do was keep her out of harm's way.

Sakura whimpered but didn't move to hug him again.

"Honey," Mebuki said quietly and raised her hand in an attempt to lower her husband's gun.

"He's one of them!" Kizashi snapped. "The hunt was last night. Just look at the state of him; he must have escaped. If they let some cub slip by them the quality of the hunters they sent must have been pretty low."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the man and growled softly exposing small canines. He was afraid but he didn't like the tone the man had taken when we spoke of his family.

So these guys were hunters. His eyes flickered to the girl next to him. She certainly didn't seem too made of the right stuff to be hunter.

"But he's still young, and no threat to us," his wife argued, "Let's take him to the council and let them decide what to do with him." She didn't want her husband shooting the seemingly innocent boy in front of their daughter. It would scar her for life.

Sasuke was confused. What else would they do with him besides kill him? They were hunters, that's what they did. But it worked, and Kizashi slowly lowered his gun, but didn't put it away.

"Fine, go call them. But if he tries anything he's dead," Kizashi said. Sasuke and Kizashi exchanged heated glares.

Mebuki hurriedly headed back to the house and called for her daughter.

Thousands of turbid thoughts swirled around Sakura's mind as she witnessed her daddy nearly shoot the boy she was trying to help. 'One of them', that's what her father had called him. Did that mean he was one of those scary monsters that she had heard stories about? But he didn't looks scary or dangerous. In fact he had looked down right scared. She looked worriedly at the boy one last time before the headed back to the house towards her parents.

"Sasuke."

She turned around as the boy spoke up quietly. "My name is Sasuke." He broke eye contact with her dad to look at her.

A big grin broke across her face. She waved goodbye at her new friend before running the rest of the way into her house.

'Sasuke,' she thought happily. She wasn't really sure what was happening around her, but she had a good feeling about everything. She had just made her first friend.

When Sakura and her mother disappeared into the house Sasuke was left alone in the yard with Kizashi. It was obvious that the man would rather blow his head off rather than agree to what his wife wanted. But what did she want? She mentioned something about a council. He couldn't imagine any reason why a group of hunters would want to keep him alive.

"What happened to my family?" Sasuke finally built up enough courage to ask.

The older man shrugged, "Not sure. Haven't heard any news yet." Sasuke wasn't sure if he could trust this man. But he hadn't truly given an answer. There was still hope.

After a few minutes a few hooded men arrived. They each held a rifle at the boy who remained seated in the grass. They spoke in hushed voices with Kizashi before carefully approaching the boy.

Sasuke growled at them as the men got closer to him. One of them cocked their gun and pointed it at him. "Behave or else," he threatened. Sasuke gave them another small growl before giving up and just scowled at them. One of the men bent down with something metallic held tightly in his grasp. It was a thick steel collar with strange dark red symbols on it.

Sasuke began backing away from the men. There was no way they were going to put that thing on him. But before he had taken more than a few steps on of the other hunters grasped his shoulders and held him in place.

That resulted in causing Sasuke to start thrashing wildly trying to break lose. But he wasn't strong enough to overpower and adult. He shivered as the cold metal touched the skin of his neck.

The sharp click of the collar locking shut was the starting point of a new life for Sasuke.

As soon as the metal clicked shut around his neck Sasuke felt a cold shiver run down his spine.

"C'mon," one of the men grunted. He yanked on the collar making Sasuke stumble. Upset, he tore away from the man and snapped at him, nearly taking he man's finger off.

All of a sudden there was a shooting pain throughout his body. He cried out in pain and sunk to the ground, his body curled protectively into the fetal position. He couldn't tell exactly where the pain had originated, but his whole body shook and trembled with pain.

As soon as the pain started it began to dissipate. The symbols on the collar that were flashing bright red began to fade. In one of the hunters hand was a small red orb with grey swirls in it. The orb was no bigger than a grape and flashed in time with the runes on the collar. Sasuke gasped, drawing in great gulps of air. He was pulled violently to his feet by one of the men. "Don't even think about trying something like that again." Wanting to avoid another experience like that, Sasuke marched between the men as they circled him.

Kizashi watched as they took away the little menace. He wasn't sure what the council had planned, but it had better be worth keeping the mutt alive. When they turned a corner and disappeared out of sight Kizashi turned away and entered his house.

* * *

><p>Sasuke was thrown in the back of a car and taken into town. He recognized some buildings and landmarks as they whizzed by, but he couldn't tell where they were headed. The car suddenly stopped near the back entrance of the local police station, the secret headquarters for the Hunters Association. He was quickly ushered out of the car and moved to a side door.<p>

The door appeared to be made of thick metal with a small keypad next to the frame. One of the men quickly typed in a series of numbers. The keypad made a high pitched beep followed by the clinking of several locks as they were undone. It swung open easily revealing a small hallway lit by dim yellow lights.

The man who unlocked the door entered the dimly lit hallway. Sasuke felt a slight nudge in the middle of his back and followed after. They travelled down the hall in silence, the only noise being their footsteps. After turning down a few branching corridors and entering more locked doors they came to a room filled with jail cells.

There was a row of cells that lined each wall. All the cells were currently empty, but some of them had dark stains on the floor and walls that looked suspiciously like blood. Sasuke was forced into one of the cells. Before he could even turn around he heard the lock click shut.

Without saying anything the men walked out shutting the door behind them. Once the door closed Sasuke clutched the thick bars and tugged. They remained firmly in place and didn't even creak when he pulled on them. He was expecting that, but there was no harm in trying. Not having any other options, Sasuke walked over and sunk into one of the corners pulling his legs to his chest. He rested his forehead on his knees and wrapped his arms around them. There was no way he was going to be found now. All he could do was wait as his fate was decided by people who despised him.

* * *

><p>By that afternoon Sakura was constantly bugging her parents about the whereabouts of her new friend. She thought that he would be brought in the house after her daddy had finished talking to him. Her mommy always invited their friends in for a snack. But even after her daddy came in her friend wasn't with him.<p>

Maybe he had something to do? She kept telling her parents that she was worried about her friend. She may have helped him with some of his smaller cuts, but the one on his arm was too big for her to care for. Were his booboos well taken care of?

"Are you sure he's okay?" she asked her mom that night as they ate their dinner.

"Yes yes, he's fine," Mebuki said exasperatedly.

Sakura grew quiet for a few moments before asking something that had been bothering her all morning. "Mommy? How come Sasuke came out of the forest? Didn't you say there were monsters in there?"

Kizashi and Mebuki shared a nervous look. They had told their daughter about the different supernatural creatures that roamed the world and she knew that it was her father's job to eliminate the ones that were a threat to the humans.

"Remember we told you about the werewolf pack that lived nearby?" Sakura nodded to answer her mother's question, but she didn't quite understand what she had brought them up. "The other hunters went after them last night. Your friend is one of them. He must have escaped somehow."

Sakura gasped her eyes going wide. Sasuke was a werewolf!? But he didn't seem like those scary monsters that her parents told her about. Other kids often made fun of her looks and ignored who she really was, maybe it was the same thing for him. All the kids she knew made fun of her pink hair and slightly larger than normal forehead. She was considered a freak and a weirdo; no one wanted to play with her. Just because he was a wolf doesn't make him a bad person right?

"When can I see him?" Sakura was anxious. She never really had a friend before and wanted to give him a chance. They were the same, prejudiced against because of that they looked like and what they were. "What happened to his family?"

Her mother struggled for the answer. Stumbling over words before Kizashi spoke up, "They were most likely hunted down. You know of our job to protect the people from monsters like them. He and his family were a huge threat."

Sakura stared up at them with wide eyes. If they were hunted like the other monsters in the stories she heard then it meant that his family was dead. She was so young, but she vaguely understood the concept of death. "He must be really lonely. I want to see him!"

Her parents shared a worried look. They had called the council and asked about the wolf cub they had turned in and found that he was going to be kept in captivity. They planned on taking blood samples and keeping him alive to study him. A live specimen. The boy was quiet and didn't speak. They tried to give him food and water but he refused them. If they wanted to keep him alive they needed him to eat.

"We can take you to see him tomorrow," Kizashi answered. The only time they had heard him speak was when he told his name to their daughter. Sasuke was it? He may be a monster but he was young, perhaps being around someone else his age would put him more at ease.

Sakura broke into a huge grin. She could see her friend tomorrow! She quickly gobbled up her food and dashed away giggling.

Mebuki smiled, this was the first time in ages that she had seen her only daughter so happy. "Just don't let them get to close. You can't trust those things," Kizashi said. Even he had noticed that Saukra had been rather down lately. But if seeing that mutt made his daughter happy he would allow it. But he would make sure she was safe. "Keep him behind bars and muzzled." He gripped the thigh of his injured leg tightly under the table.

* * *

><p>The next morning Sasuke had barely moved from his original position. His body was stiff from lack of movement and his wounds still throbbed. The night before the hunters had taunted him, telling him the news of his family, his pack. They were all slaughtered. There were no survivors. They hunters had burned the houses and killed any wolf that tried to escape. He was all alone now.<p>

He felt sick. There was a gaping hole inside of him that was threatening to devour him. He just wanted to curl up to sleep and never wake up. Whenever he closed his eyes he could see the mutilated bodies of his family surrounded by raging flames.

Hunters came buy a few times dropping off food and talking to him. But everything around him was a blur and their voices formed incomprehensible buzzing. He was just existing, the faces of his family was swimming before his eyes.

To top it all off he was starving. His stomach gnawed at his insides and the smell of food only made things worse.

They had brought him food and water and left it at the edge of his cage. It smelled delicious, but he was afraid that the food and water was poisoned or drugged.

He heard the door to the room opening but remained where he was, with his head resting on his knees. "Hello there."

The tone of voice startled him. He was expecting the gruff voice of one of the men, but it was softer, a woman. He lifted his head to see who his new visitor was. Standing outside his cage was a rather large chested blond woman. She had her hair in two low pigtails and was wearing a white lab coat.

She knelt down and spoke to him in a soft voice, "How are you this morning?" Sasuke just stared unblinkingly at her. "I see you haven't eaten," she tried again. But she was still ignored. They had sent her to try to get the boy to eat, they needed him healthy not starved to death. After hearing how the boy was treated it was no wonder he didn't eat anything the men were giving him. They didn't physically harm him, but they oozed hatred and dislike.

She continued to talk to the boy in a soothing voice to try to get him to trust her a little. They had always wanted a live specimen to work with but everything the hunters managed to capture was nearly fully grown and dangerous. This was the first time they had captured a pup. They may not have another opportunity like this again.

But no matter what she did she couldn't get him to eat or even talk. She was never known for her patience and this brat was starting to get on her nerves. She was being polite and talking to him nicely, and all she got in return was a blank stare. The little bastard even refused to tell her his name.

"Aunty Tsunade!"

Both she and the boy turned to the door to see Sakura sprinting towards her with her mother and two startled guards followed her. Sakura was holding a small container with a puppy printed on the top of it.

Sakura threw her arms around the woman and hugged her in greeting. But she was pushed aside as the little girl looked through the bars. "How come Sasuke is in time out? Was he bad?"

"Sasuke?" Tsunade asked. The little girl nodded enthusiastically then cocked her head to the side as she waited for her aunt to answer her question. "No. He's in there because he's dangerous."

Sakura frowned. That was what her parents had said too, but she couldn't understand it. Sasuke wasn't dangerous. She only spent a few moments with him but he didn't seem dangerous at all. She had a good feeling about him. He was soft spoken and scared. When she had first seen him he was terrified and running for his life. If he was as dangerous and deadly as the adults seemed to think then wouldn't he have attacked her when they were alone?

"No he's not!" she stomped angrily. With a huff she turned away from her favorite aunt and turned to the cage see a very startled Sasuke. The next thing he noticed was the tray of untouched food and a full glass of water. She gasped the top of the container and pulled of the lid, revealing chocolate chip cookies. "My mommy normally makes me eat my dinner before I can have desert but you must really be hungry," she said and picked up one of the cookies and stuck her hand through the bars.

Tsunade looked on sadly. Her niece would be crushed when the boy snubbed her like he did to everyone else. But as she was about to stop her the boy stood up and took the cookie from her.

Sasuke held it in his hand and sniffed it curiously. It smelled alright. His reaction made Sakura laugh. "It's good I promise. I helped mommy make it this morning." She helped herself to one and smiled happily as she munched on the cookie.

Sasuke took a tentative bite and slowly chewed; it was good. Sasuke gobbled down the cookie making Sakura beam at him. He was licking the crumbs off his fingers when Sakura passed him another. "Thank you," he said and devoured the second cookie.

Tsunade and the guards gaped at the scene in front of them. Not only was the boy eating but he spoke too.

As her friend ate, Sakura's gaze wondered to the forgotten food. If he was so hungry they why wasn't he eating? Her curiosity led her to bend down and stick her hand through the bars and reached for the bread roll that sat on the tray. It looked alright, but maybe it tasted icky and that's why he wasn't eating.

Sasuke saw her reaching towards his untouched food and quickly grabbed her hand. "Don't!"

Instantly the guards raised their guns and pointed it at him. Sasuke's eyes flickered towards the men before focusing back on Sakura. "It's poisoned," he said and slowly released her hand. Sakura gasped and quickly withdrew her hand and gripped it to her chest.

Tsunade rolled her eyes and scoffed, "It's not poisoned. Why would we poison you? If we wanted you dead they would have just shot you?" She had to admit, for someone so young he was rather sharp for even thinking that the food may have been tampered with. "That food's cold and stale already, let's get you some fresh food. I promise the food is perfectly fine. I would hate to harm my favorite niece's friend."

At her order one of the guards went to open the cell while the other kept his gun raised at Sasuke to make sure he didn't make a run for it. When he pushed open the door and knelt down to pick up the tray Sakura dashed past him and into the cage.

The other occupants of the room gasped. Sakura was going to prove to them that their belief that Sasuke was dangerous was wrong. The guards instantly raised their guns but other than that no one dared move.

Sasuke knew that if he moved they guards would think he was going to harm Sakura and shoot him. Sakura was oblivious to the nervousness of the adults behind her when she moved to stand next to her friend. She dipped her head to see his arm. She frowned when she saw the caked on dried blood that indicated that the wound was ignored.

"Aunty Tsunade, I thought it was your job to help people with their booboos," she scolded.

Tsunade stumbled over her words for a moment before answering, "It is. But-"

"Then why didn't you help him," Sakura interrupted.

"Sakura come here," her mother tried to reason, "I know you think he's your friend but you barely had a chance to know him. What do you know about him other than his name?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke and smiled. Sasuke raised an eyebrow curiously at her. He was glad to have someone being so nice to him, but he couldn't understand the little girl's actions either. They barely even knew each other and she seemed so attached to him.

"I just have this really good feeling," Sakura continued to smile. She reached out to Sasuke and grabbed his hand. At first Sasuke felt uncomfortable as he stared at their intertwined fingers. The loneliness from losing his family came rushing back to him. He had no one now, but this girl who was still practically a stranger made him feel a litter better. Like the world hadn't totally deserted him. The cold feeling in his chest slowly disappeared and was replaced with a comforting warmth. He gave her hand a small squeeze.

"Come here girl." One of the hunters had entered the cell was slowly approaching them and extended his hand out to reach for Sakura.

Sasuke couldn't trust these people, they had killed his family. If anyone was dangerous it was them! They were the murderers! He pulled Sakura behind him and growled angrily at the man making him instantly retreat. He felt his canines elongate slightly and his eyes bleed to a blood red color. He was useless when the hunters came for his family, but he was going to protect his new friend. He was going to protect Sakura.

The guard jumped and took a step back. The kid had been passive so far, this was the first sign of aggression that they had seen. While the Mebuki paled and a gasp past her lips, she was afraid for her daughter. Instead of fearing for Sakura, Tsunade grinned. She rested her hand on the guards shoulder and pulled him back.

"Sasuke," she calmly addressed, "My name is Tsunade. I'm a close family friend of Sakura's. Don't worry we won't harm her." Sasuke stopped growling but his eyes remained red.

Sakura was a bit startled when Sasuke started growling, but she didn't move from his side. She stepped up to his side and noticed his red eyes and stared in wonder. Maybe he could teach her how to make her eyes change color?

The guards looked skeptical and Mebuki was still fidgeting nervously, she couldn't wait for her daughter to get away from the boy. But Tsunade looked perfectly fine, in fact she seemed rather excited. "Sakura, how would you like it if Sasuke stayed with you?"

**A/N: Hope you all liked the first installment of Chained!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Early update, my Christmas present to you all. Happy Holidays!**

**Chapter 2**

Kizashi rubbed his temples as he slumped against the kitchen table as he spoke to Tsunade over the phone. Apparently that crazy woman thought that it was best for that kid to stay with them. "We can't have a mutt running around free. I refuse," he said.

"You can't keep his kind cooped up in a cage. If we want to study him properly he needs to be able to breath fresh air and run around outside. Kind of like a new puppy. And to be perfectly honest he wasn't getting the best treatment there. He also seems very attached to your daughter." He could practically hear the amusement oozing from her tone.

He slammed his fist angrily on the table. "Is that supposed to make me feel better!? I don't want that _thing_ anywhere near Sakura!" There was nothing funny about this situation.

"He doesn't interact with anyone else. He accepts food from her and responds when she talks to him. And don't worry, he still has the collar on if he tries anything funny just zap him." She had a point there. "I already spoke to the rest of the council and they agreed that the child will stay with you and Mebuki. We'll be by stopping by regularly to check on him and possibly take some blood samples."

If the council had already decided it then it was out of his hands.

"When are they coming back?" he asked, referring to his wife, daughter, and their new…thing.

"By this afternoon. We need to get him cleaned and patched up first," Tsunade replied.

"Fine," Kizashi grunted and abruptly hung up.

Tsunade pulled the phone away from her face with a smirk on her face once the dial tone began. She pocked the phone and turned to the rest of the residents of her office. They have moved from the cell downstairs to her personal office on one of the higher floors of the hospital. Mebuki stood nervously near Tsunade's desk and watched her daughter interact with the boy that was going to be living with them.

Earlier Sasuke had been pushed into a shower room and given time to scrub the dirt and blood from his body. They had sent some of the other organization's workers into town to buy some clothes for him. Now that he was clean and freshly clothes he looked much more civilized. If they didn't know it, they wouldn't be able to tell that he was a werewolf.

Sakura was sitting next to Sasuke on the rather large plush couch that hugged the wall of Tsunade's office. The young girls bombarded Sasuke with questions, ranging from what his favorite color was, to if he could he grow a tail.

At first his answers were short and quiet, but he began to get used to her chatter when the questions didn't stop. He had his head lowered and only made eye contact with her occasionally. He was still rather shy but that didn't seem to stop Sakura.

"You really can grow a tail?!" Sakura shouted excitedly. Sasuke gave her a small nod and smirked as he eyes widened. After a moment of concentration there was a bushy black wolf tail swishing slowly behind Sasuke. "That's so cool! Can I touch it?" Sakura raised her hand wanting the grasp the furry appendage.

"Sakura!" Mebuki gasped. How can her daughter feel so comfortable with that boy? He wasn't some tame pet he was a monster.

Her cry had grabbed both kids attention causing them both to turn towards her, Sasuke's tail flicking Sakura's face in the process. The contact made Sakura laugh and press her hand to her cheek where his tail and brushed.

Personal boundaries and her mother's panic, forgotten, Sakura reached forward and stroked Sasuke's tail. The contact made him jump a little and his tail fluff up in surprise. "Did that hurt?" Sakura asked worriedly.

"No, I just wasn't expecting it," Sasuke said. Normally physical contact didn't really bother him. He used to wrestle with his brother all the time and enjoyed the smothering hugs his mother used to give him. Even his relatively strict father would give him a pat on the head or even a rare hug when he did something that he was proud of. But it was completely different with strangers, where he wanted to avoid all contact when possible. Unfortunately, Sakura seemed to thrive on touch. She wanted to hold his hand occasionally while they walked or played, poked him when she thought he wasn't paying attention. And now she seemed to enjoy petting him.

Mebuki cupped her face in her hands as she watched her daughter laugh loudly and continue to pet Sasuke's tail. "All of my hair is going to turn grey with worry," she moaned.

Tsunade laughed, "Is that what happened with Kizashi?" Her joke was enough to being a smile to the panicky woman's face. "I think you are all freaking out for no reason." When she received a shocked and confused look from Mebuki she was prompted to continue. "Wolves and even werewolves are social creatures. It is possible for some to live on their own, but it is difficult. Now that he's alone I assume that he's bonding with your daughter because he has no one now and is looking for a new pack. I don't think he's doing it intentionally; its instinct."

"But why her?" Mebuki asked. "She's young and naïve. I'm afraid he's going to harm her."

"He's young to you know. He probably chose her because she was the first person to be kind to him. He just went through a very traumatizing experience and needed some support and she was there for him. Wolves are very loyal. I think she is very lucky that he picked her." Tsunade paused and turned to look at the two kids. "If she becomes his new 'pack' then he's going to do everything he can to protect her. We already witnessed a glimpse of that when he thought the guard was going to take her away."

"You seem so confident," Mebuki groaned and raised her had to rub her temple. She could feel a headache beginning to set in.

"Don't look so down Mebuki," Tsunade smiled and placed her hand comfortingly on the other woman's shoulder. "If anything goes wrong," she trailed off and reached into her pocket. She dropped a red crystal into Mebuki's hand. It was the crystal that activated the collar. "I don't really think you need it but just in case. This one is a prototype so try not to use it too often, we don't want to accidently fry him."

Tsunade had been studying werewolves and other supernatural creatures for years. She knew that Sasuke most likely would have faded and died if he hadn't bonded with Sakura. It was true that they could survive on their own, but most lone wolves were fully grown. There was a very low chance that a pup could make it on their own. There was no way he was going to attack her. But no one else seemed to understand that.

* * *

><p>When they returned to Sakura's home the air was thick with tension. Kizashi kept his gaze focused on Sasuke who was sitting on the floor of their living room. Sakura sat next to Sasuke and busied herself playing wither her dolls. Sasuke remained motionless as he watched her play. He would give her brief short answers when she picked up her head to talk to him before going back to playing. Sasuke could feel Kizashi's eyes boring into his back. He felt really uncomfortable in a hunter's house, but this was also Sakura's home so he would stay here.<p>

"Dinners ready," Mebuki called from the kitchen. Sakura quickly threw her doll onto the couch and scampered into the kitchen. Sasuke stood to follower her but was stopped by a disgusted Kizashi.

"You aren't allowed at the table," he growled and walked into the kitchen after his daughter. Sasuke glared at his retreating back and slowly followed.

Once in the kitchen, he saw her happily eating her dinner while her mother passed her father a plate. They looked so happy. Sasuke's stomach clenched tightly as he remembered his own family. He envisioned his mother, father, and brother sitting at the table, waiting for him. He clenched his teeth angrily and furiously whipped the tears that had begun to gather in his eyes.

"Sasuke?" He dropped his hand and tried to pretend that he wasn't crying. He looked up to see Sakura now standing in front of him with a bowl of food in her hands. Sasuke bit his lip and looked away from her, ignoring the food she offered. "It's okay to miss them you know. But they wouldn't want you to be so sad." Sakura knew exactly what was bothering him even if he didn't say it. When she learned of his family's death she felt so bad for him. Sakura couldn't begin to imagine her life without her parents, and now Sasuke was left with much less. Not only were his immediate family dead, but every aunt, uncle, and cousin was gone too. He was completely alone in the world.

She placed the bowl on the ground and ran back to the table to get her food. She ignored her father's protests and moved to sit next to Sasuke. If Sakura could have her way, Sasuke would never have to be alone again.

Sasuke whipped his eyes one more time before sitting down and picking up his bowl. "Don't worry Sasuke," Sakura whispered between bites so that her disapproving parents wouldn't hear, "I'll be with you from now on so you won't be lonely." Sasuke couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face.

* * *

><p>The town was fed lies about the sudden deaths of the Uchiha family. They were told that late in the night one of the houses caught fire causing the whole community go up in smoke. The Uchiha's were a very close knit family and hardly interacted with the other people who lived around them. The tragedy was heartbreaking but the family wouldn't be missed by many.<p>

After a few more days of living with the Harunos, the awkwardness began to fade. Kizashi still treated him harshly but now chose to ignore him whenever possible. Mebuki would speak occasionally to him but he could see how tense her body became whenever she was close to him. She still wasn't comfortable with him. But Sasuke didn't really care what they thought of him. But Sakura was ecstatic that her new best friend was living with them. They were practically inseparable much to her parent's disapproval.

Sasuke would show signs of depression occasionally when he reminisced about his family. But Sakura made sure that she was there for whenever these incidences occurred. Slowly they began to happen less and less. He still missed his family greatly but it was getting easier to cope.

Sakura had just started kindergarten so Sasuke was left at home while she went to school and her parents went to work. Her mother worked in the hospital with Tsunade, but she worked more with the regular patients and rarely saw to the hunters that would sometimes come in with what most nurses and doctors would think were 'peculiar' injuries. He didn't know what her father did and he didn't particularly care. He knew he was a hunter but most of them also had a day job to blend in with the community.

For the time being he was sleeping on the couch in the living room with his clothes kept in a cardboard box. They had a small building that resembled a shed that was supposed to be a workroom for Kizashi that was built in the corner of the yard, but it was being mostly used for storage. They were going to get it fixed up and cleaned so that Sasuke could live in it. Kizashi would have just chucked him into the dingy old room but Mebuki was against it. While she didn't feel quite comfortable with Sasuke but he was only a child and she couldn't do that to him.

While they were at work and Sakura was at school they had other members of the hunter's association come over and watch hm. They were also helping out with modifications to Sasuke's new 'house'. They would occasionally pop in to check on him to make sure he wasn't causing any trouble. But after a while they dubbed it a waste of time. Sasuke wouldn't really do much of anything. He would sit around, take naps, and play with the small blue ball that Mebuki had bought him.

This was starting to become routine and Sasuke was starting to get extremely bored. The most exciting part of the day would be when Sakura came home. She was so excited to be starting school and would come home and share recollections of her day with her parents and Sasuke while they ate dinner. Sasuke was allowed to sit at the table after Sakura kept sitting on the floor with him. Her parent's listened intently with cheery smiles on their faces. But Sasuke was the only one to notice that she hadn't mentioned any new friends that she made. For someone that thrived from being around others it was rather odd. All the things she talked about were things she did and they were almost always things done on her own. He was the only one to notice the sad gleam in her eyes as she picked at her food.

One night when dinner was over and Sasuke and Sakura were sitting in the living room he asked her something that had been bothering him for the past few days. "What's wrong?"

His sudden question startled her from the picture she was coloring. "What do you mean? I'm fine," she said confusedly.

"You don't look happy," Sasuke said. "Aren't you enjoying school?"

Sakura's eyes widened, she didn't think anyone would notice, much less Sasuke. She dropped her gaze and frowned, "When I first started school I was so excited. I would get to make a ton more friends." Her eyes started to water a little. "I try to play with the others, but they only make fun of me. They say I'm a freak because I have pink hair and a big forehead." She pressed her hand to the top of her head to try to use her bangs to hide her forehead.

Sasuke sat there shocked. He had wondered why she had stopped wearing the red ribbon in her hair, but he never would have guessed she was getting bullied. He quickly stood up and ran to her room. His sudden movement had caught the attention of Kizashi, who was reading the paper in the kitchen. By the time Kizashi had reached the door way to see what he was up to, Sasuke was already running back to the living room with Sakura's ribbon in his hand.

Sakura sat there confused as Sasuke held out her ribbon. "Don't listen to them. Just because you look different doesn't mean you're a freak," he said quietly, "Don't try to hide your face just because of them. You're pretty."

Sakura was stunned. She took the ribbon from his hand and threw her tiny arms around him in a hug. She never felt so happy in her entire life. Sasuke stood there awkwardly for a moment before slowly returning her hug.

Kizashi stood there and glared at the sight before him, the red gem clutched tightly in his hand. He was just waiting for Sasuke to mess up so he could use it. No matter what Tsunade and Sakura seemed to believe he would never trust that beast.

* * *

><p>The next morning Sakura had asked her mother to put her hair up in her ribbon again. She wasn't going to let those other kids bother her today, not after what Sasuke said. While they were leaving Sasuke sat by the front window and watched as their family car disappeared around the bend.<p>

Sakura had mentioned that her school was a short ride away and Sasuke was fairly certain that he could just head in that direction and pick up her scent. After what she had told him the night before he wasn't about to let her keep getting bullied.

The hunters that stopped by the house merely glanced at him before getting to work on the small house in the back. He hung around for a few hours just to make sure that the hunters weren't expecting anything. Over the past few days he noticed that as the day went on they checked on him less and less.

After they checking on him one more time, Sasuke quickly arranged some pillows and blankets to make it appear that he was taking a nap at a quick glance. He quietly opened the front door and ran down the street.

He ran for a few blocks, frequently lifting his head to try to catch a Sakura's scent. Cherry blossoms with a hint of strawberries. It was something that was engraved in his brain, he would never forget her scent. He came to an intersection and tried to catch her scent. He frowned as cars zoomed past him on the road.

The pungent exhaust from the vehicles were smothering all other scents making it really difficult to smell anything else. As he stood at the intersection a slight breeze ruffled his hair.

There! The wind had brought along the smell he had been searching for. It was very feint, but it was definitely her. He instantly turned down the street and broke out into a run.

After following her scent for another few blocks he found the location of her school. There was a bunch of kids playing in the playground in the back of the school that was enclosed by a simple chain-link fence. Sasuke peered between the metal that made up fence and looked around for Sakura. He easily spotted her sitting off to the side under one of the trees, drawing figures in the dirt with a broken stick.

He sighed in relief, by the looks of it her day was going well. But everything seemed to go downhill from there. A group of kids began to approach her, making Sasuke tense. Sakura was soon surrounded by a group of three girls and two boys. The three girls were all wearing rather frilly shirts and cute shorts. One of the boys was thin and had a mousy face and large front teeth that made him look slightly like a rat and the other was taller and kind of chubby.

"Hey freak!" Sakura kept her head down and ignored their jeering. "Don't ignore us!" One of the girls shouted. Upset with the lack of response rat boy stepped forward and yanked the ribbon out of her hair.

That instantly got a rise out of Sakura. "Hey! Give that back!"

"Why? You don't need it, its better that those bangs are hiding that huge forehead of yours." The boy teased, waving the ribbon around in the air tauntingly.

"Well, maybe not. This way we end up seeing more of that weird hair," another girl laughed.

Sakura ignored their teasing and reached for her ribbon. "I said give it back." She swiped at the air tying to reclaim her ribbon. They laughed at her as she tried and failed to reclaim her ribbon. She tried to ignore them, but their taunting and teasing caused tears to form in her eyes.

The largest boy of the group stepped up and forcibly pushed her, knocking her to the ground. That was the last straw for Sasuke. In an instant he scaled the fence and was sprinting across the yard.

"Aww what's wrong? Look at you, what a crybaby," the larger boy that pushed her began to laugh. But he was cut off when he was tackled to the ground. The other kids jumped back in surprise and cried out in shock.

Sakura sat there dumbfounded. One moment she was being bullied, and the next she was watching Sasuke beat the shit out of the boy that pushed her.

After tackling the boy to the ground Sasuke began to brutally beat him. He couldn't hear the boy crying or the other bullies screaming over the blood that was roaring in his ears. Sakura had been putting up with these people since she started school and hadn't complained about it. What else had they done to her? Did they pull her hair? Call her more disgusting names? He would make them pay.

Suddenly Sasuke was forcefully pulled up, away from the boy who was bawling with his hands covering his bruised face. Accompanying the bruises was a bloody nose and a busted lip. Some of the caretakers had heard the screaming and crying and came running. The man restrained Sasuke, keeping both hands firmly on his wrists, while the woman knelt down next to the boy to check on him.

Still blinded by fury Sasuke turned his head and sunk his teeth into the caretaker's hand. He felt his fangs pierce skin as blood poured into his mouth. The man holding in cried out in pain and wrenched his hand back. As soon as he was free Sasuke ran at the boy, he wasn't done punishing him for hurting Sakura.

He skid to a stop when pink and green flashed before his eyes. Sasuke stumbled slightly trying to regain his balance from his sudden stop to avoid trampling Sakura.

Sakura looked at him with determined eyes. Her eyes were still rimmed with tears and her clothes still had dirt on them from when she was pushed to the ground.

After that rather frightening display Sakura now understood everyone's feelings toward Sasuke. He really was dangerous. Sakura knew that even if he was indeed dangerous like everyone believed, he would never hurt her. The only times she had seen him lash out was when he thought she was in danger.

She raised her hands and cupped his face. Just like the time where the guard had reached for her, his eyes were red. "It's okay," she whispered, "I'm not hurt." She raised one hand to cover his eyes, no one was supposed to know about him not being human, that much she understood.

He stood there slightly panting as the adrenaline slowly left his body. Sakura was alright, she hadn't been harmed to badly. After catching his breath for a few seconds he grasped the hand that covered his eyes. His eyes had faded back to their normal dark grey now that he had calmed down. He grasped her hand tightly in his and nuzzled the other that was still resting on his face. Sasuke growled slightly as he nuzzled her making Sakura giggle.

"What's going on?!" the panicked voice of another female caretaker reminded them of the things going on around them. Two more women and another man hastily ran over to them.

"Aki-sensei! We were trying to play with Sakura and then that boy started beating up Takao," one of the girls cried and pointed at Sasuke. The caretakers that just arrived took notice of the extra child in the yard for the first time. Some of the caretakers ushered the other kids away taking them back into the building leaving Sasuke and Sakura in the yard.

"Who are you?" one of the women, Aki, began to step toward Sasuke and Sakura.

"Careful, that kids nuts," the one that Sasuke bit grumbled as he gingerly held onto his bleeding hand.

"Don't worry Taro. Where did you come from?" she asked kindly. Sasuke shrugged and pulled Sakura behind him slightly, her hand still clasped in hers. "What you did wasn't nice. You need to apologize to Takao." That made Sasuke frown.

"He pushed her," Sasuke said simply.

The woman smiled at him. "I understand that you were trying to protect Sakura, but you can't go around hurting other kids. Come let's go inside." She reached out her hand to the two kids.

"We don't even know who this kid is," complained the Taro.

"Well we can't just leave him out here," she argued back.

"He's Sasuke!" Sakura said cheerfully and grabbed onto the Aki's hand. "He's my friend."

The rest of the day Sasuke was kept separate from the other children. Except for Sakura who refused to be separated from him. Mebuki was startled to find Sasuke there when she went to pick up her daughter.

"Sakura said that he's living with you. Foster kid?" Aki asked as she pushed Sakura and Sasuke towards Mebuki.

"Yes he is," Mebuki said still trying to get over the astonishment at seeing Sasuke there. How did he get there? What happened to the guards that were supposed to be watching him?

"You should enroll him too. He seems to keep the bullies away from little Sakura," Aki ruffled Saskue's hair making him grumble and shake his head.

"What? Bullies? She hasn't mentioned anything like that. She only ever talked about how much fun she was having," Mebuki gasped.

"I had a hunch that something was going on, but I could never catch the other kids in the act. Until today, when we had to pull Sasuke off Takao and Sakura was sitting in the dirt. That was proof enough for me that those kids had been bothering her." Sakura hid behind Sasuke and buried her face in the back of his shirt.

"Is the other boy alright?"

"Mostly just a few bruises but he did a number on poor Taro's hand. He's got some pretty sharp teeth," Aki chuckled.

Mebuki's eye widened and her face paled. "H-he bit him?!"

"Don't worry plenty kids go through the biting stage. It's nothing uncommon." Aki waved her concern away. But it Sakura's mother was worried about something entirely different.

"Um, well, I'll think about enrolling him too. I need to talk to my husband first. We were worried about exposing him to too many things too quickly."

Aki nodded in understanding. "Well, I hope to see you guys tomorrow. Bye Sakura, Sasuke.

After biding the friendly caretaker farewell the three of them made their way to the car in silence. Mebuki ushered them into the car quickly as she dialed Tsunade's number.

As soon as Tsunade had picked up on her end Mebuki was practically shouting into the phone," Tsunade! He bit someone!"

"Whoa relax, breath," Tsuande spoke slowly.

"But he bit one of the people working at Sakura's school. Is he going to…you know?"

"Don't worry," Tsuande laughed, "The only time they're contagious is during the full moon while in wolf form. But what was Sasuke doing at Sakura's school?"

"I'm not sure how he got there but apparently he was chasing off some bullies that were bothering Sakura." Mebuki was a bit skeptical about what she heard but she was somewhat glad that Sasuke had shown up.

"I told you didn't I? There's nothing for you to worry about he's going to be looking out for her from now on." She heard Tsunade sigh over the phone. "I know you're worried for your daughter, but I think Sasuke is trust worthy."

"But he's a-"before she could complete her sentence, Tsunade cut her off.

"And that makes him more loyal than any human kid. Sakura is lucky that he bonded to her." Mebuki was silent as she thought about what Tsunade had just told her and all the things she knew about werewolves. "I need to go now. Feel free to call if you have any more questions. But I don't want to hear any more about how you think he's going to eat your kid. Alright?"

"Okay," Mebuki sighed, "Thank you Tsunade." She still had a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that Sasuke was trying to look after Sakura.

"Mommy?" Mebuki turned around in the driver's seat to check on her daughter. "Are we going home now?" Sakura asked. After hanging up the phone, her body maneuvered itself into the car on autopilot. They had been sitting in the car and the kids were starting to wonder why they weren't going anywhere.

"Yes, sorry I was just thinking," she smiled at her daughter and avoided eye contact with the other child in the car.

"Can Sasuke come to school with me tomorrow?" Despite being teased Sakura did enjoy school. And Sasuke being there made it all the better.

Mebuki sighed deeply before starting her car and answering her daughter that looked at her with bright expectant eyes. "Yes, he can." She was going to have a long talk with her husband, for he would not be happy with this.

And she was right. When they reached their house, Sasuke only managed to take a few steps away from the car when he felt searing bolts of pain shooting through his body. He wrapped his arms desperately around himself and began screaming in agony.

Sakura watched stunned as her friend collapsed to the ground for seemingly no reason. "Sasuke?!" she cried out worriedly and knelt down next to her friend. His screams and moans of pain caused tears to gather in her eyes. She didn't understand what was going on. She was afraid to touch him in case she only hurt him more. Then she noticed the collar around his neck was giving off a faint red glow.

The slamming of the house door drew her attention to her father who was stomping out of the house his cane in one hand and a glowing red orb in the other. She ignored his enraged expression and focused on the similarly glowing red crystal clutched tightly in his fist.

Even to someone as young as she was it was simple to put two and two together. Her daddy was hurting Sasuke! She ran to him, tears falling from her eyes. She pounded her tiny fists against her father's leg. "What are you doing daddy!? Stop it!"

"Dear, please stop," Mebuki hurried over and explained to her husband what had happened at the school.

Kizashi's grip loosened but the crystal remained activated. Sasuke's screams stopped but pain still wracked his body, causing soft whimpers to pass his lips. Leaving her mother to try to stop her father, Sakura ran back over to Sasuke and struggled to pull his head into her lap. She began to gently stroke his hair trying to comfort him.

"He may have escaped, but he did it for good reason," Mebuki said. She kept her voice low as she reasoned with her husband. "Apparently Sakura was getting bullied at school." That caught Kizashi's attention. "Sasuke somehow found the school and attacked one of the boys that was teasing her."

"Just because he stood up for her doesn't make him a hero," Kizashi said. He was grateful that he looked out for his little girl, but one deed wasn't going to change his view on his kind. The crystal lost its glow as he tossed it to his wife, who barely managed to catch it.

Now that the pain finally stopped Sasuke was able to take in deep gulps of air. He kept his eyes closed tightly as he waited for his body to recover. Cold droplets fell onto his face prompting him to open his eyes. The first thing he saw was Sakura's distraught face leaning over him. He whipped the few tears that had splashed onto his face as he forced himself to sit up.

Sakura made a small noise of protest as he rose. But he ignored her and raised his other hand to wipe the tears that streaked down her face. "I'm okay," he murmured. Every inch of his body was still screaming in agony, but she didn't need to know that.

He may have won over her mother, but her father was far from trusting him.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: To answer a guest reviewer's question about Sasuke having fangirls: I haven't really decided yet. Maybe when get older but I'm still thinking about it. I'm leaning more towards no just because he's extremely anti-social.**

**Chapter 3**

The next few days past rather smoothly. Sasuke was allowed to go to school with Sakura and the bullying seemed to stop. Mebuki had made Sakura promise to tell her if she was still getting bullied.

Sakura laughed, "Don't worry mommy Sasuke chases them all away."

When her husband wasn't looking she spoke with Sasuke. "Thank you for looking after my daughter," she whispered to him. Sasuke looked at her with a blank look and shrugged. Mebuki giggled slightly and ruffled his hair. He grumbled a little and shook his head messing up his hair even more. Sasuke wasn't a fan of touching and physical contact, but he still let Sakura pet and hug him with no complaints. At times he even seemed to enjoy it.

At school the group of bullies still occasionally poked fun at Sakura and made some snarky comments about Sasuke's collar. "It's so cute. He's like your puppy always following you around," they would tease. Sakura frowned at the rather bulky looking contraption. She didn't think it was necessary, but there was no way she could convince her parents to remove it.

"I don't care what they say. Don't let it bother you," he said when he saw her frowning at the collar.

After their comments didn't get the reaction they wanted the bullies began to back off. With those kids finally giving them some space Sakura began to truly enjoy school. She even began to meet some of the other kids. Sakura seemed to blend in well with the other children but Sasuke still rather anti-social.

But no matter how many people Sakura interacted with she always preferred to spend time with Sasuke.

Over the past few days Sasuke has been getting rather fidgety. It was getting closer and closer to the night of the full moon. At first he was rather depressed, this would be the first full moon since the massacre. The full moon was always a thing that his family had celebrated.

He always had a great time running around and playing with his family in the forest. That night would be another painful reminder of the family that he lost, but he would try to make the most of it. He was rather young to be hunting, especially on his own. Maybe he could convince Sakura to play with him.

The day of the full moon was a Sunday, so Sasuke and Sakura spent most of the day playing in the backyard. Sasuke had so much pent up energy it was difficult for him to keep still. Sakura had offered to play tag with him to help him run off some of his excess energy.

Sasuke was a lot faster than she was but they had a lot of fun anyway. He would run circles around her, cutting off her escape paths, before he would actually tag her. And when it was her turn to chase he would slow down to let her catch up.

It was Sakura's turn to be 'it'. She laughed as she pumped her legs to try to catch up to her friend who would occasionally look back at her with a small smirk on his face. With a burst of speed she closed the distance between then and caught onto his shirt.

Sasuke wasn't expecting her to suddenly catch up to him and stumbled when she pulled on his shirt. Her forward momentum and his lack of balance caused the two of them to tumble to the ground. They lay in a jumbled pile with Sasuke laying on his stomach and Sakura laying across his back. After a catching their breath the two of them began to laugh. Sasuke hadn't felt this happy since before the hunt that killed his family.

Their game was interrupted by the backdoor opening and three adults entered the backyard. Two of which were Sakura's mother and Tsunade. The other person was a rather tall pale man with greasy looking long black hair and gold eyes.

"Mommy! Aunty!" Sakura jumped up and ran over to her mother and aunt. Sasuke lingered behind, dusting the pieces of grass off his clothes. He watched as Sakura gave her mother a hug before attaching herself to her favorite aunt. His inspected the stranger cautiously before slowly approaching them.

"Hello Sasuke. How have you been?" Tsunade asked kindly.

"Fine," he answered with a shrug.

"So this is the boy?"

Sasuke looked at the man who had spoken. As they locked eyes, Sasuke felt a cold shiver travel down the length of his spine. Instinctively he took a step towards Sakura and tried to block her from the strange man's sight. He had a bad feeling about him, they would need to be cautious.

"This is Orochimaru," Tsunade introduced, "He works with me in the hospital. He specializes in medicines and diverse healing methods." Sasuke nodded in a greeting, his face remaining blank. Sakura on the other hand greeted him with a friendly wave and a smile. The two doctors were dressed in their casual clothes rather than their hospital getups.

Orochimaru returned her smile and reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a rather large needle. "If you don't mind, we're here for a blood sample." Sasuke stiffened a little and took a tentative step away from them. He stopped his retreat when he felt a hand rest gently on his shoulder. Looking up he saw Mebuki standing behind him.

She kneeled down and whispered quietly into his ear, "Don't be scared. It's just going to be a slight prick then it will be all over." Over the past few days Sasuke was beginning to trust Mebuki. After the incident at school, she started to be nicer to him. She spoke to him about his likes and dislikes to try to make him feel more comfortable in their home. They even began to hold their own conversations even when Sakura wasn't around.

With some slight hesitation, Sasuke held out his arm for the doctor. He winced slightly as the needle pierced his skin. Sasuke and Sakura watched in amazement as Sasuke's blood began flooding into the needle. When the syringe was filled Orochimaru gently pulled the needle out and capped it.

Sasuke lifted his arm that was bleeding slightly and sniffed at it curiously. Tsunade quickly slapped a bandage on the bubble of blood to prevent him getting it on his clothes and to stop the bleeding.

"Good boy," Orochimaru patted his head. Sasuke growled and glared at him. The doctor smirked at him and pocketed the needle before turning around and headed back towards the house.

"Are you excited for tonight?" Tsunade asked him. For the first time since she met him, Tsunade saw him smile. "Well, of course you are!"

Sakura grasped her aunt's hand and swung it between them playfully. "I am too. We're going to go play in the forest!"

Tsunade laughed while Mebuki paled. She and her husband were disguising what they were going to do with Sasuke tonight, and letting her daughter near him was definitely not one of the options.

Tsunade and Orochimaru hung around the house for a little while longer and the two kids went back to playing. They had some important matters to discuss and it would be better if Sakura and Sasuke weren't around to hear them.

"So what? Do you expect us to stay up and watch him the whole night?" Kizashi asked. He had joined the two doctors and his wife in their living room.

Tsunade shook her head, "We'll have more hunters positioned around the area. They were told not to shoot only if he shows signs of aggression." She didn't think that the needed anyone at all. But no one else shared her confidence and refused to let him wander around unchecked.

"What if he runs off?" Orochimaru questioned.

"If he runs he gets a bullet to the back. It's that simple," Kizashi replied.

* * *

><p>It was getting close to sunset and Mebuki was calling for the kids. After a little coaxing they abandoned their game and ran back toward the house.<p>

"Is it dinner time already?" Sakura asked.

"Soon, but there's something we're going to show you first," Mebuki said as her husband came to stand near her. The two of them were taken to the now completely renovated workhouse that would act as Sasuke's room.

Kizashi unlocked the door from the outside and pushed it open allowing Sasuke to walk in first. Inside was a single bed and a small dresser that was already filled with his clothes. There was still an open space that was going to be filled with a desk and chair in the near future. They had added a carpet that covered the entire floor except for a small space in front of the door to leave his shoes. The room also had two glass windows that lifted up to let the breeze in. One window faced towards the main house while the other faced away giving him a good view of the forest.

Sasuke was shocked. He wasn't expecting for them to go through so much trouble for him. He walked around the room curiously before turning to them and bowing, "Thank you."

Kizashi looked indifferent and Mebuki smiled warmly at him. While Sasuke continued to explore his room the Haruno family stepped out and headed back to their house.

"Make sure to come in for dinner," Sakura said with a huge grin on her face. Sasuke looked really happy with his new living area, and that made her happy. Kizashi shut the door with a click. While Mebuki led their daughter back to the house he pulled a key out of his pocket and inserted it into the lock on the door. There was no way he was going to allow that animal to run around free no matter what anyone said. Those creatures couldn't be trusted, especially on a full moon.

While Kizashi had a triumphant smirk on his face, Mebuki looked back at the small cabin with a sad expression. They only thing they knew is that on the night of a full moon the wolves were always active. Who knows how he would act. Would he lose his humanity and become a beast? Would he become feral like all the other wolves she had come across in the past? What would happen to the boy she was slowly getting to know? When her husband told her he was going to lock him up she didn't object. Her family's safety came before everything else.

* * *

><p>After thoroughly exploring his new room Sasuke collapsed onto his bed. He laid face down for a moment, enjoying the softness. His life was finally taking a turn for the better.<p>

As the sun sank below the horizon Sasuke could feel the energy building up in his body. He jumped up excitedly from the bed and made his way to the door. He tried to turn the knob and tilted his head in confusion when it didn't open. After jiggling the knob a few more times he realized that they had locked him inside.

He moved to the window but it was closed shut too. The lock was placed above the glass pane that would slide up when unlocked, out of his reach. Sasuke could feel the anxiety building as he paced around the room. He was being forced to spend the entire night stuck in this tiny room. What kind of sick torture was this?!

Sasuke didn't need to see he moon to know it was already shining high in the night sky. His heart began to beat rapidly in his chest as the transformation approached. He needed to get outside now! He threw his shoulder against the locked door in a desperate attempt to escape. The door rattled from the impact but didn't budge.

He breathed heavily and tore off his shirt, throwing it to the floor. The rest of his clothes followed as his body morphed into that of a wolf cub. He crouched down as his bones cracked and reshaped themselves. Fangs and claws grew in as black fur covered the entire length of his body.

He was larger than the average wolf cub but he still maintained a puppy-like appearance with a small muzzle and large paws that were slightly too big for his body. Sasuke's coat was completely black, the same shade as his hair. His eyes changed from their normal grey to the same shade of red that appeared when he was upset.

Sasuke took only moments to fully transform. He shook himself and flexed his muscles once the change was complete. Now that he was a wolf opening that door would be impossible. He growled angrily as he ran around the room aimlessly. He had to get out.

* * *

><p>The moon was out and Sakura was getting ready to go out and put on her jacket. She was so excited to go see what Sasuke looked like as a wolf. She had seen his tail once and when she asked him if she could see it again he had told her it was rather embarrassing. She was disappointed but she refrained from asking him again.<p>

While she ate dinner with her parents she questioned them about Sasuke's whereabouts. They had told her not to worry about him and that he was probably too excited about tonight.

"What are you doing?" Kizashi asked when he saw Sakura pulling on her jacket.

"I'm going to go play with Sasuke," she said cheerily. Kizashi's eyes widened and quickly shut the door that she was trying to open.

"It's time for bed. You can see him tomorrow." Kizashi didn't want his daughter anywhere near at kid, especially tonight.

"But I promised him that I would play with him."

Kizashi sighed exasperatedly, his daughter just didn't understand. No matter how many times he or his wife would try to explain the dangers of getting close to that boy she would shake off their warnings and continue to spend more and more time with the little beast.

A sad howl pierced the night air.

"You hear that?" Kizashi asked, "He's not human Sakura, he's a monster. You need to learn that he's different from you." His voice was stern and harsh. He needed his daughter to understand that Sasuke was very likely to turn on her.

Sakura turned to her dad and glared at him. "I do understand!" she shouted. "You're the one that doesn't get it. Sasuke treats me better than anyone else I ever met, and they're all humans." Her cheeks became flushed and red and her eyes began to water. "I know we're different. If that means that I can't be friends with him then I don't want to be a human, I would rather be a monster too!"

She turned around and ran into her room and slammed the door, leaving behind a stunned Kizashi. She jumped onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow. She knew that her parents worried about her but to her their fear was irrational. She could never see Sasuke attacking her, no matter what form he was in.

There was another howl. Why did he sound so sad and upset? When he was telling her about all the fun he used to have during the full moon he seemed so excited. Maybe he was sad because she was breaking her promise.

She quickly jumped off her bed and moved to her window. Her father wouldn't let her out of the house so she would have to sneak out.

Sakura quietly made her way to the edge of the forest. Sasuke had a good nose so he should be able to find her with no problem.

The sound of shattering glass made her jump. The window of Sasuke's new place was broken and a dark shadow stood amongst the glass shards. Her house door was thrown open and light spilled into the backyard. With the yard now slightly illuminated Sakura got her first glimpse of Sasuke in his wolf form. Before her stood a wolf cub that was about the same height as a medium sized dog. She stared curiously at him for a few moments before they were interrupted.

"Get away from her!"

Two gun shots were fired. The wolf ducked as one of the bullets whizzed past his ear. With one last look at the startled girl in front of him he took off into the forest.

"Wait come back!" she shouted and started to run after the wolf. Her parents frantic yelled made her pause and look back. Her mother was franticly trying to coax her back into the safety of her house and her father was holding onto his rifle to tightly that his knuckles were white. His old leg injury kept him from getting very far without his cane.

Part of her wanted to go back with her parents, but another part wanted to go after Sasuke. He was all alone now, and she promised to be there for him whenever she could. She wouldn't abandon him now especially after she promised him.

With a wave and a smile she took off into the forest.

* * *

><p>She trampled around the forest looking for any signs of her friend. The moon provided enough light for her to see but was still a little scary. The light also created huge shadows that who knows what could be hiding.<p>

"Sasuke!" she called, hoping to get some kind of response. She frowned when the only response she received were chirping crickets.

Finally after wondering deeper into the forest she heard rusting leaves coming from behind her. Sakura spun around with a huge smile on her face expecting her friend to finally show himself. Her smile fell when a raggedy looking dog stepped out of the bush. It was larger than Sasuke and had long yellowing canines. Its matted brown fur was caked with mud.

Sakura whimpered and began to backpedal as the dog approached her with an ugly snarl. Her courage spent, she turned around and bolted. The dog excitedly gave chase, its mouth beginning to foam at the thought of fresh meat.

She tore through the underbrush as she tried to escape. Twigs snagged her clothes and scratched her skin. The dog began to bark and snap at her heels as she ran.

Sakura picked up speed, desperate to escape the rabid animal that was chasing her. In her haste, her foot caught on a large root that jutted out of the ground. She landed on the ground with a dull thud. Ignoring the pain from the impact she quickly turned herself around to see the dog directly in front of her.

The dog prowled towards her snarling loudly, with saliva dripping from its jaws. Sakura let out a frightened scream as the dog lunged at her.

A black blur burst from the bushes and collided with the dog knocking it away from her. Sakura watched in amazement as Sasuke sunk his fangs in the dogs shoulder.

Sasuke was forced to let go as the dog whirled around and lunged at him. The two beasts snarled and snapped at each other. The dog managed to nick Sasuke's muzzle, drawing blood. They threw themselves at each other and became a tumbling mass of fur and limbs.

The dog's angry barks turned into pained cries when Sasuke finally got a good bite in. His jaws closed tightly on the dog's back leg. Fangs easily pierced the canine's skin and blood flooded into his mouth. Ignoring the coppery taste, Sasuke bit down harder. The forest was ringing with the dogs yelps as Sasuke tore into its leg.

If given the chance Sasuke would have probably broken its leg if it hadn't gone on the offensive in a desperate attempt to dislodge him. The dog twisted its body to get and Sasuke and lunged at him again.

This time the dog's jaws closed on his ear. The sudden pain caused him to release his grasp on the dog's leg. The two of them broke apart and glared at each other. Sasuke made sure to stand protectively in front of Sakura.

They were both covered in blood. Sasuke had only a few minor cuts and most of the blood on his fur had come from the other dog. The other animal was in a much worse condition. Its entire back leg was slick with blood that was still flowing from the deep gouges caused by Sasuke's fangs.

Sasuke's ears lay flat against his skull and he raised his lips to expose canines that still had blood clinging to them. The fur along his shoulders and back stood on end and his tail was fluffed out. Not wanting to fight anymore the dog lowered its head and tucked its tail between its legs. Not looking to kill the other animal, Sasuke watched as the dog limped away and disappeared back into the shadows of the forest.

After waiting for the dogs retreating footsteps to disappear, Sasuke finally turned to look at the crazy girl who had followed him into the forest. Sakura had watched the whole fight from where she had fallen and hadn't moved and inch.

Sakura was still too stunned to move. Everything had happened so quickly. It was hard to believe that the soft-spoken boy was the same thing that attacked the dog so viciously. She was scared. She knew what he was and it didn't bother her until now. Whenever she thought of Sasuke she imagined the little boy that occasionally had a wolf tail, nothing close to what she just witnessed. But he had done what he had to do in order to save her.

Sasuke stayed where he was unsure of how to approach her. She looked like she was about to run away again; he didn't want to scare her.

He crouched low to the ground and pressed his ears to the top of his head. He crawled along the ground slowly until he was directly in front of her.

Sakura tentatively reached forward and rested her hand on his head. When he didn't move she began to gently pet him.

Sasuke closed his eyes in happiness as his tail began to swish back and forth. As she got more confident Sakura began to stroke him a bit harder and scratched behind his ears. She smiled at him, all trepidation form earlier had disappeared. How could she ever be afraid of him?

He could tell by her more confident strokes that Sakura's fear was fading away. Now that he didn't need to worry about startling her, he sat up and licked her face.

"Ewww!" Sakura laughed. She pushed his muzzle away with one hand and wiped the saliva that clung to her face with the other. Sasuke backed off for a second and cocked his head to the side as she continued to wipe her face.

Sakura giggled as the got the last remnants of slobber off of her face. Now that she was clean, she looked at Sasuke who was patiently watching her.

Sasuke suddenly pounced, knocking her back to the ground and covered her face in playful licks. Sakura began howling with laughter as she tried to push him away and cover her face at the same time.

That was the scene that Sakura's parents and two accompanying hunters came across.

Sakura was lying on the grass laughing so hard that tears gathered in the corners of her eyes with a black wolf cub on top of her. The wolf's tail was swishing rapidly through the air as he repeatedly licked the girl he was sitting on top of.

"Sakura?!" Mebuki shouted worriedly. The Kizashi had left his rifle back at the house due to the fact that he needed one hand to use his cane and there was no way he could trek through the forest without it. The two hunters lifted their guns and pointed at the two figures, just as a precaution.

Sasuke stopped his assault and looked up. He had heard them approaching before they had actually appeared but he didn't really care about them at the moment. But the two guns pointed at him made him nervous. The fur along his shoulders stood on end, as he took a few slow steps off the still giggling girl.

Wiping the slobber of her face, Sakura sat up and looked curiously over her shoulder. A smile split across her face at the sight of her parents. "Hi mommy, daddy!" she waved innocently at them, completely forgetting that she wasn't supposed to be out at night.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" Mebuki asked tentatively. This was definitely not what they were expecting when they chased Sakura into the forest.

"Of course!" she smiled, "I got lost at first and some scary doggy chased me, but Sasuke saved me." Sakura leaned forward and scratched behind Sasuke's ear.

Sasuke's tail began to wag as Sakura continued to shower him with affection.

While Sakura's father and the other two hunters looked on with raised eyebrows and expressions of disbelief, Sakura's mother sighed heavily and let out a small smile.

No one made a move to raise their weapons when Sasuke knocked Saukra over began to lick her face again. The forest seemed much less scary when it was filled with her hysterical laughter.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As the years went by Sasuke and Sakura remained close. Their lives seemed to reflect an average kid's childhood: go to school, make friends, and try to keep Sasuke from beating up the other kids. But there was a huge change once Sakura had her 12th birthday.

When she turned 12 Sakura was introduced to the hunter association and began her training in in basic weaponry soon after. These classes were held in the late afternoon and into the night. There she meet and befriended other kids that came from hunter families.

At first Sasuke was wary of her learning how to be a hunter and started to spend less time with her, until Sakura came home and threw a fit.

"You should hear the garbage that they're teaching us!" Sakura shouted as she burst into Sasuke's house. Sasuke was enjoying the quiet night by reading a book when Sakura barged into his room and threw herself face down on his bead.

She continued to grumble, her voice muffled by the mattress. "I can't hear what you're saying," Sasuke said not even taking his eyes of the book.

Sakura huffed and turned her watery eyes toward her friend. Sasuke faltered when he realized that she was on the verge of tears. "What's wrong?"

"It's those stupid teachers and the other kids too! Today we were discussing different kinds of creatures that we expect to come across. It was fine until we came to werewolves." Sasuke already knew where this was headed and let out a long sigh. "Bloodthirsty animals! Violent beasts! You should have heard the awful things that they were saying about your kind!"

"You know, that's normal coming from a bunch of hunters," Sasuke interrupted her, "You're the only one that doesn't think so."

Sakura puffed her cheeks out in defiance as her face began to turn red. "That's not true. Aunty Tsunade thinks so too."

"Well, that's two people out of the entire population." He argued and moved to sit on the bed next to her. He could care less what the others thought about him, he was used to them thinking badly of him. "Don't let it bother you." Sakura moved to place her head in his lap but she avoided eye contact and tried to hide the depressed expression that was beginning to form on her face.

After sitting for a few minutes in silence she spoke up again, "Did you know that there was a treaty between the hunters and your family?"

Sasuke looked down at her his curiosity peaked. He shook his head slowly, not having heard of that before. He was so young at the time he never really paid attention to things like that.

"We went over the treaty in class tonight. A long time ago this area had a huge vampire problem. They preyed on innocent civilians and amassed a huge force that seemed impossible to take down. But after years of fighting they were finally annihilated when the werewolves and the hunters joined forces," Sakura explained.

That would explain why the wolf pack lived so close to the hunter's main base.

"They're was peace for a while but after a couple of years they began to lose trust in one another."

"Sadly, I'm not surprised," Sasuke said. Sakura gave him a sad smile, she wasn't surprised either.

Sakura continued retelling what she had learned in class that night, "Over the years, mistrust turned to fear, and fear turned into hate. There was some fights that broke out between the two groups, but there was no casualties or anything serious. But it was us that broke the agreement in the end."

Sasuke didn't need her to say that the massacre was the breaking point of their truce.

"So doesn't that make humans worse than werewolves?" Sakura frowned and buried her face into his stomach. Sasuke's face darkened.

"No," he answered surprising her, "My family had nothing good to say about hunters either, I'm sure that if the hunters hadn't attacked we would have eventually." It was inevitable that the two opposing forces would clash.

Sakura turned over to look up at him with a determined expression. "What is it?" Sasuke asked, starting to get more concerned.

"Come with me."

Sasuke looked down at her with a confused expression, "What? Where?"

"Come with me on our next practice hunt," she answered. Their practice hunts were just regular hunting excursions that had them tracking and taking down normal game like deer and feral pigs. They wouldn't be getting a crack at the supernatural creatures until they had way more experience.

Sasuke's skeptical look prompted her to continue," If the others see what you're like then maybe it will change their opinion. Our kinds fought together once. We can do it again."

Sasuke highly doubted that anyone would change their minds, but he didn't really care what they thought of him. But he would do it to make Sakura happy. "We'll see."

* * *

><p>A few nights later the kids were assigned to take down the largest male in the herd of deer that resided in the forest. Sasuke secretly followed their little group as they stalked the deer. The hunting group consisted of Sakura and four other kids.<p>

Ino Yamanaka was a rather loud blond girl that had approached Sakura on their first training session. The two of them really hit it off and became fast friends. The other girl was Hinata Hyuuga. She was a really quiet girl with dark blue hair and pale white eyes. There was also Shikamaru Nara, who was definitely the laziest of the group. Even if he would rather spend his time napping, the brown haired boy was extremely bright for his age. The final member of their group was Kiba Inuzuka. He also had brown hair like Shikamaru. But unlike the other boy who kept his hair tied back, Kiba's hair was wild and messy. His family were the ones that trained the dogs that the hunters used. He was almost always seen with his white puppy Akamaru.

They all began their training at the same time since they were the same age. They all belonged to families that were involved in the hunter's association and became quick friends. There were many more kids that were in the training program, but a simple assignment like this didn't require more than five people.

"This is so boring," Kiba groaned as they trudged through the forest. "Shoot a deer. Any civilian can do that." Akamaru yipped in agreement.

"Stop complaining, at least were not stuck in the classroom listening to some old guy rant on and on," Ino said.

"Quiet! The how are we going to catch anything if you two keep making so much noise," Sakura scolded.

With quiet grumbles the five of them continued to track the deer. Ino, Shikamaru, and Kiba carried guns like majority of the other hunters. But Hinata preferred a bow and arrow and Sakura a crossbow.

It was getting late by the time they finally tracked down the herd. They raised their weapons and aimed at the largest male in the herd. With five of them there one of them was bound to hit it. But a snapping of twigs and a shuffling of leaves startled the deer causing them to take off. In a desperate attempt to take down their target the team fired with weapons. None of the shots connected.

"Dammit!" Kiba threw his rifle onto the ground in frustration. "Which one of you did that?!" He looked at the rest of them accusingly. They had been tracking the herd forever and one slip up cost them the kill.

"It wasn't me," Shikamaru shrugged and looked at the others. They all had similar confused expressions. None of them had brushed up against a bush or anything so that rusting noise hadn't come from them.

Akamaru sniffed the air and began barking, swinging his head left and right. A few leaves and twigs fluttered down from the treetops causing them to look up. The tree tops were full of beady eyes. Cackling began echoing through the forest.

The creatures leapt from the trees and rained down upon them. As they flew past the branches and leaves the moonlight revealed who their enemies were.

Goblins!

They were small, barely two feet high with pale brown warty skin that was mostly covered by a dirty rag that was fashioned into some kind of toga. They had grungy tufts of dark brown hair on the tops of their heads that were flanked by two large floppy ears. They weren't very threatening but they could be dangerous in large groups like this one.

The goblins slammed into the startled hunters and attacked them with yellowing teeth and gnarly claws.

The hunters let out screams and cries of pain as the goblins scratched and tore at their skin.

Sakura swung her crossbow and knocked away one of the goblins that had latched onto Ino's back while tugging on her hair. She swung her crossbow repeatedly to keep the goblins away. But there were too many of them.

One of the little monsters managed to sneak up behind her and sunk its teeth into her thigh. The sudden pain caused her to topple over, her weapon falling from her hand. Her fist connected with the goblin's face causing it to squeal and let go. But before she could recover more goblins jumped on her pinning her to the ground.

The other guys were having similar problems. Ino and Hinata stood back to back swinging their weapons, knocking back any goblin that come close. Both girls had torn clothes and scratches on their skin.

They boys were doing slightly better than the girls. Shikamaru had managed to unsheathe a long hunting knife that was already covered in dark goblin blood. Kiba had his rifle raised and took some wild shots at the goblins that would leap at him. Most of his shots made direct contact that caused the creatures to screech in pain and disappear back into the underbrush. Akamaru stuck close to his owner's feet and would snap at the goblins that attempted to sneak up on Kiba from behind.

Sakura grunted as she thrashed around trying to dislodge the goblins from her back. "Stop it! Get off!" she shouted. The goblins cackled louder and the pulled on her hair.

The goblins continued to laugh as they danced around their prey nipping and clawing at them.

"Damn it!" Kiba growled as one of the goblins got past Akamaru and landed a scratch on his face.

Ino and Hinata managed to make their way to Sakura and beat the horrid creatures away from her. "What do we do?" Hinata asked worriedly. The number of goblins seemed to be infinite.

But then suddenly the goblin's horrendous cackling turned into high pitched squeals of terror. The goblins that surrounded them abandoned their attack and scrambled over each other frantically. They pushed and shoved each other out of the way and ignored the confused humans.

"What's happening?" Sakura looked around frantically as she pushed herself to sit up. But they didn't need to wait long for their answer. A black streak burst through the brush and latched on to one of the straggling goblins. The creatures pained squealing was cut off abruptly by a snapping of jaws.

The goblin's body became limp and lifeless in an instant. A huge black wolf shook the shook the dead body for good measure. "Holy shit! Is that what I think it is?!" Kiba gaped at the wolf that stood around hip height. Shikamaru, Hinata, and Ino wore similar expressions of shock and disbelief. Akamaru cowered near his owner's ankles. But unlike the others, a huge smile broke across Sakura's face.

The corpse was tossed aside as the wolf chased after the remaining goblins. Sasuke pounced on two of the retreating figures and only paused to finish them off before moving along to the next one.

A few of the goblins threw themselves at the attacking wolf with their fangs and claws bared. They latched onto his fur but couldn't do much more than that. Sasuke quickly threw his body into a tree trunk, crushing one with a sickening crunch. The others were easily dispatched with a harsh shake of his body.

A few more snaps of his jaws accompanied by the crunching of bones sent the last of the goblins disappearing into the dark.

In only a few moments the vile creatures had faded back into the shadows, leaving only the hunters and the wolf behind.

Shikamaru and Kiba immediately raised their guns and pointed it at the wolf. Sasuke looked down the barrels of the guns, something he had started getting used to over the years. He snorted and glared at them. He should have just let those goblins eat them. Well, accept for-

Sakura rocketed from her sitting position and threw herself at her longtime companion.

"Sakura! What are you doing?!" Ino shrieked. The boys instantly lowered their weapons, not wanting to accidently shoot their friend.

But Sakura ignored them as she wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck and nuzzled her face into his fur. "You came to save us. Thank you!" Sakura hugged him tighter. Sasuke's tail began to wag leisurely. Saving them was worth it after all. He licked her face twice, forcing her to release him to wipe the spit off her face. When he came in closer she pushed his muzzle away playfully and began to laugh.

"Um, Sakura?" Hinata called out to her quietly while the rest of the group watched the scene unfold in front of them with wide eyes.

"Isn't that a- a werewolf," Ino gaped and pointed a shaky finger at Sasuke.

Sakura seemed to finally hear the worried cries of her fellow hunters and looked at them over her shoulder. "Put down the guns guys. Sasuke's not going to hurt you." They didn't truly believe her and kept their weapons raised.

Sakura's shoulders slumped and she let out a deep sigh. She shouldn't have been surprised, most normal people didn't trust supernatural creatures. She quickly grabbed Sasuke's muzzle and pried his mouth open and without wasting a breath she stuck her arm into his mouth her other hand holding onto his top jaw to keeping from pulling away. Her sudden surprising move caused Sasuke to freeze up in shock

Ino and Hinata gasped in fear as they waited for the wolf's jaws to clamp down onto their friend's wrist. But it didn't. Instead Sasuke tried to open his mouth as wide as possible to avoid any contact with her skin and making irritated growling noises.

"Told you," Sakura laughed at her friends expressions. "Guys, this is Sasuke." She took her arm out of the rather irritated wolf's mouth and began to pet him affectionately. She laughed as he narrowed his eyes and glared angrily at her.

* * *

><p>After that incident Sasuke was integrated more and more into the hunter association. When Sakura introduced him while he was human Ino and the others instantly recognized the boy that always hung around Sakura during school. It took a few weeks but they soon became used to him. They stopped fearing him and began to treat him as their friend.<p>

The older hunters were getting used to his presence but that didn't mean that they liked him. The new hunters that were in training with Sakura didn't mind him, but the adults would still cast worried hate filled glances at him. They would never fully trust him, but Sasuke didn't care. He still had a huge dislike, borderline hate, for the elder hunters. They were the ones that murdered his family.

But when he would look at Sakura, his negative feelings would slowly melt away. She didn't act the way the others did. In fact she didn't like to kill things unless absolutely necessary. Her dream was to become a doctor like her aunt. But it was mandatory for her to complete the hunter training in order for her to learn how to defend herself and to learn what kind of other creatures were out there.

He didn't mind the newer generation as much, they weren't as trigger happy as the old one. The older hunters were a bit cocky and liked to boast and flaunt their achievements.

Over time he began to realize that the hunters were not so different from his family. They protected their own and destroyed anything that threatened them. Which had including his deceased family. If his family had lived, wouldn't they have done the same to the hunters? Would they have wiped out an entire group of people?

It was a never ending cycle that was finally put to an end. Now that his family was gone this land was now left in the hands of the hunters. He was just lucky to be alive.

He decided that he would continue to do what his ancestors did for generations. Protect their land. And Sakura. Even if it meant working with people that despised him.

* * *

><p>It became a common thing to see him tagging along on the hunts.<p>

Sasuke was able to increase the success of he hunts by a huge margin, and that was something the council and the other older members could not ignore. Having a werewolf on their side was turning out to be a good idea.

While he was accepted my most of the hunters, Sasuke was still rather reserved. He barely talked to anyone besides Sakura. That was until Jiraiya brought his god son to the hunters association one afternoon.

Naruto Uzumaki was a bright spirited boy with a traumatizing past. Both his parents died while trying to kill a huge demon fox that was terrorizing the mountain area that they were vacationing in. Before they were killed they managed to strike down the demon. In an act of revenge the fox cursed their child, infusing its essence into the new born. Amazingly, Naruto's spirit was able to subdue the demon causing its soul to fizzle out and disappear. But the damage was done and the fox had altered the boy's physical structure.

On the outside he looked like a normal kid, except for the whisker marks on his cheeks. But in reality he was very different from a normal human. When excited, he was prone to growing fox ears and tail while running around on all fours. He could even turn into a small fox kit on occasion.

It took Jiraiya years to break that habit in hopes of integrating him into society. Jiraiya was worried that other people would treat the boy differently because of what he had become. But the hunters slow acceptance of Sasuke gave him hope that his god son would be too.

One night Jiraiya brought Naruto along to one of the trainee's classes where he was somewhat accepted. The kid wanted to be a hunter more than anything. Naruto proved to be exuberant and loud; not the best student around. He had trouble staying still and got distracted easily. He frequently got on the other kids nerves. While Naruto could pass as a normal kid, there was still instances where he would do something that was more animal than human. Going up to the other kids and sniffing them wasn't the best way to make friends.

While he enjoyed the classes, Naruto was alienated from the other kids. It was devastatingly lonely. Some of the other parents who knew of his 'condition' were frightened of him, and their uncertainty was passed onto their kids.

One night after their lessons were over, Naruto was hanging around outside the Hunter's Association building waiting for Jiraiya to come pick him up. He gave a depressed sigh as he watched as the rest of his classmates walked away with their parents. But there was one kid who was sitting on the ground against the building. The adults and other kids seemed to be giving him a wide birth and occasionally throwing nervous glances at him.

With a small smile Naruto walked up to him. "Hey!" The dark haired boy looked up at him curiously.

"Hi," he responded after some hesitation.

"What'cha doing here?" Naruto asked as he moved to sit next to him. The other boy shifted away slightly.

"I'm waiting for my friend."

That was odd. The other hunters wouldn't let civilians hang around so close to their main building and if he was training to be a hunter Naruto would have seen him around before.

Naruto leaned in closer and sniffed curiously at him. He jerked back with a gasp, startling the boy next to him. "You're just like me!" Naruto jumped to his feet in excitement. The boy looked human but didn't smell like one. There was another scent mixed in that Naruto hadn't smelt before. "That's so cool! I'm Naruto. What's your name?" he leaned in closer revealing his ears and tail. The boy seemed to become more uncomfortable and backed up a little.

"Sasuke!"

Naruto looked up to see a girl with pink hair running towards them. He recognized her from class. "Sorry I'm late; I had to talk to the teacher after class." It took her a second to realize that someone else was standing there.

Naruto jumped when she gasped loudly when she caught sight of his ears. He had completely forgotten to hide them again.

"Aww! So cute!" The pink haired girl practically jumped on him, gently stroking his ears. This was not what he reaction that he was expecting. And her gentle petting felt nice.

"You're not scared?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No of course not. I'm Sakura, your Naruto right?"

Naruto's jaw dropped slightly. This girl wasn't terrified of him and she even remembered his name! Besides Jiraiya and a few other adults this was the first person to treat him with kindness. "That's right! Can we be friends? I never had a real friend before?" His tail began to swish excitedly behind him.

"Of course," she smiled.

He surprised her by wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug. Sakura shocked by the sudden action, but quickly got over it and returned the hug. Encouraged, he began to nuzzle the side of her head.

With an irritated growl, Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the scruff and yanked him back making him let out a startled yip.

"Heyyy-" he complained and glared at Sasuke who scowled back at him.

"Sasuke be nice," Sakura scolded. Sasuke frowned and released Naruto before turning his back to them; sulking. Sakura smiled at the jealous wolf pup. After patting Naruto on the head she moved past him to hug Sasuke from behind. Sasuke relaxed in her arms. With Sakura's kind personality he knew she would instantly take in the lonely boy.

But to his irritation, Naruto attached himself to them at well making a very snuggly group hug.

"We're going to be best friends forever!" the fox boy cheered. Sakura giggled in agreement and Sasuke sighed.

And he was right. After making his first two friends, no matter how unwilling one of them was, the rest of the kids slowly began to accept him. But no matter how many new people he talked to and hung out with, Sasuke and Sakura would always be his best friends.

As they grew older they became more comfortable with their lives, and Sasuke and Naruto were able to fit in well with the community. Even if they got along well with the other kids they still preferred to hang out with each other.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Sasuke asked. He and Naruto were laying in the grass stargazing, while the other hunters in training were in class. Naruto began to skip class more and more to spend time with Sasuke. Normally the two of them would spar, practice tracking, or just laze around. He claimed he learned just as much about hunting from Sasuke as from the 'old geezers'. But Naruto would make sure to attend the classes where they covered guns and other weaponry.

"Yeah but it's so boring. And you don't go either," Naruto shrugged.

"But I'm not training to be a hunter like you are," Sasuke argued.

Naruto rolled over and pouted at him. A question that had been bugging him since he met his friend slipped out. "Why are you living with Sakura and not with other werewolves? Don't hunters hunt wolves?"

Sasuke turned away from the fox boy trying to ignore him, but Naruto was persistent and wouldn't let Sasuke brush him off. "C'mon tell me!"

After a few minutes of continuous prodding Sasuke snapped, "They were killed! Are you happy now!?" He sat up and glared at Naruto with glowing red eyes.

Naruto flinched and backed up, putting some space between him. He avoided eye contact, feeling guilty, but he couldn't stop the flow of questions. "Did the hunter's do it?"

Sasuke let out a dark chuckle, "Who else?"

It made no sense to Naruto why his friend would work with people that killed his family. "Then how can you stand it? Being close to the ones that murdered your family," Naruto said softly.

It took a few moments for Sasuke to respond. "I didn't have much of a choice at the time. It was cooperate or get shot. And then…" he trailed off his gaze softening and his red eyes faded to its normal dark grey. "Then Sakura was there. She cared for me. I can't hate her for a position she was born into."

"So you're only here 'cuz of Sakura?" Naruto questioned. He knew a little bit about wolves. And it puzzled him that Sasuke was so anti-social for being a wolf. Aren't they supposed to be social creatures?

"Mostly," Sasuke replied, "I guess these other kids are alright, they don't seem as bad as the hunter's now. They don't flat out hate me. But Sakura is- different." Sasuke struggled with the right words to describe how he felt. "She's like my pack, my family."

"What about me?" Naruto asked hopefully, his eyes glistened with hope, "Am I a part of your family too?"

Sasuke looked at him and smirked, "I guess so."

With that Naurto pounced on him delivering a near bone crushing hug. "Hooray! We're brothers!" Naruto cheered as he began to nuzzle Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke rather enjoyed Sakura's hugs, but this made him feel extremely uncomfortable. "Let go."

"No! Were family now! Families hug and snuggle!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Get off me you moron!" Sasuke began trying to pry the other boy off him with little success. It was Sasuke who threw the first punch that dislodged Naruto. Only to upset the fox boy, leading to a squabble that attracted some attention from inside.

"Um, what's going on here?"

They two boys looked up to see someone standing above them. The bottom half of his face was covered by a grey mask and an eye patch obscured even more of his face. He looked rather young for having a head full of grey hair.

Kakashi Hatake has been a hunter for years and worked at the local high school as his day job. He didn't expect to see two boys wrestling in the dirt outside of the association's main building.

The two boys recognized the man but they were never introduced. "Sasuke hit me!" Naruto shouted and pointed an accusing finger at his friend. Sasuke scowled but didn't deny it.

Kakashi laughed as the two boys continued to glare at one another. "Shouldn't you be in class now?" The only reason two kids would be out here this late would be to attend the hunters association's lessons.

"Nah it's too boring. And I need to keep Sasuke company," Naruto smiled.

"No you don't. Go to class," Sasuke said. This caused the two of them to start bickering again.

This was way to amusing for Kakashi. He knew that the blond was Jiraya's god child and Sasuke was the name of the werewolf that had been adopted by the Harunos. What an interesting turn of events. "How are you going to pass your tests when you skip class?" he asked innocently.

Naruto stopped fighting with Sasuke and turned to talk to Kakashi. "Sasuke's been helping me some, he knows about hunting and the kinds of creatures that are out there."

"The knowledge of a little kid is not going to be enough when the tests start to get more difficult," Kakashi ignored the heated glare that Sasuke sent his way, "Would you like me to tutor you? Sasuke can come too, there's no harm in becoming more aware. This way you can learn some of the things that they're learning in class without really being a hunter."

The two boys turned to each other as they thought. Sasuke wouldn't mind learning more and there was no way he was going to step into that classroom. He would help them but he was never going to be one of _them_. Naruto did enjoy the classes, but the teachers there were just so boring. And hanging out with Sasuke was way more fun than the other kids, who at times still treated him with some reservation.

"Who are you anyway you old geezer?"

Kakashi's visible eye twitched slightly. He'll let that comment slide- just this once. "Kakashi Hatake, I'm a rather experienced hunter. Your father was my teacher." Naruto's eyes sparkled at the mention of his diseased father.

"So you know all his secrets and stuff, and you can like teach them to me! What kind of techniques did he teach you? Did he have any other pupas?" Naruto began shooting off questions non-stop.

"You mean pupils you idiot," Sasuke interrupted. Naurto turned away from a slightly startled Kakashi to stick his tongue out at Sasuke and started another round of arguing.

The elder hunter smiled at the two bickering kids. This was going to be very amusing.

After that night Kakashi would coach the two of them four nights a week. He tried rattling off bits of information only for Naruto to doze off and start snoring. That was obviously why the boy skipped class so often. How in the world was he even passing?

Sasuke on the other hand just sat there, it was hard to tell if he was even paying attention.

After his first failed attempts he began taking the two of them out into the field. He began to teach them basic combat techniques, how to track without giving away their position, and how to properly set up traps and which to use depending on their intended prey.

Naruto learned to handle a multitude of weapons starting with rifles to large hunting knives. He loved all of them, but favored hand guns. Sasuke on the other hand despised any kind of gun. It just felt wrong when he held them. He even felt a bit awkward with a bow and a crossbow.

While Sasuke was dangerous in his wolf form his human form was a bit lacking in natural defenses. After a bit of coaxing Kakashi managed to convince him to try out knives. Sasuke was a bit apprehensive at first but warmed up to it much better than any other type of weapon. He still preferred claws and fangs over anything else, but the extra knowledge wouldn't hurt.

Kakashi had planned on running a weekend practice session during the day so Sakura could attend. She was invited because Kakashi was curious what kind of person this 'Sakura' was that his favorite students would bring up in their conversations on occasion.

"So you're Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura was had heard about the hunter through Sasuke and Naruto. They seemed to have mixed feelings about him. At times he was amazing mentor but at others he was the annoying old geezer.

"Yes, and you must be Sakura," he smiled at her. "Now that the introductions are over let's get started!"

"What are we planning on doing today?" Naruto asked excitedly as he bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Were going to play the ultimate game of hide and seek. I'm going to hide in the forest and you're going to have to catch me and simply tag me."

Sasuke scoffed, "That's it?"

Kakashi wagged his finger at him. "It won't be as easy as you think. I have a few less dangerous traps already set up and I get a ten minute head start to hide. And tracking me won't be as easy as you think." Kakashi pulled out a tiny spray bottle. "This was developed a few years ago to mask my scent."

After a few sprays Kakashi's scent simply vanished. Sasuke frowned, that was rather annoying. Now they would be forced to rely on foot pints and any environmental changes that would be caused by a body moving through the forest. Being forced to hunt like a human sucked.

"Good luck!" Kakashi waved at them and leisurely strolled into the forest.

After waiting an anxious ten minutes the three of them rushed into the forest after their teacher. Only to immediately stumble into a net trap that was hidden on the ground. The three of them were hoisted up into the air and hung from a tree. The net closed tightly squishing the three of them together snuggly.

"Where'd this stupid thing come from?!"

"Stop wiggling!"

"Naruto your foot's in my face!"

It took them a good five minutes for Sasuke to cut them down with the knife that Kakashi insisted he carry around.

"Well, that was a terrible start. Let's try this again shall we?" Sakura tried to stay enthusiastic but that first trap was rather humiliating.

Unfortunately for them, they spent the entire exercise running into trap after trap. While they finally managed to find Kakashi's, trail by noticing a few broken twigs that showed where someone had pushed through the underbrush, it only led to another trap. They spent the next hour at the bottom of a rather large pit fall trap.

Kakashi could hear them yelling and fussing quite a ways away. "Hello down there!" he laughed as he peeked over the edge of the hole. His three students were covered in dirt, sticks, and leaves.

"When the hell did you have a chance to dig such a large fucking hole!?" Naruto shouted angrily. Sasuke and Sakura wore equally enraged expressions.

"Now, now, watch your language young one," Kakashi tormented only to receive more cusses in response.

After throwing down a rope for the poor kids to climb out Kakashi began his lesson. While they were taught to make traps in lessons they hardly covered finding and disarming them. He also went over some advanced tracking techniques since they took so long to even get close to his trail.

They kept up their training, meeting every Sunday to try to complete the assignment given to them. It took them seven more attempts to finally catch Kakashi.

Over the years the three of them became quite an efficient and deadly team. When Sasuke lost his family he never expected to find a new one, even if they were a little odd.

**A/N: It was either two short chapters or a really long one. The next chapter one is going to be another time skip to where the rest of the story takes place. Hope you enjoyed reading :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

It's been twelve years since the Haurno family took in the orphaned boy. Over the years Mebuki grew to care about Sasuke; not as much as a son but at like a least a close family relative. Kizashi on the other hand still didn't really like him, but he didn't down right hate him anymore. The two of them tolerated each other and only interacted when they didn't have a choice.

The relationship between Sasuke and Sakura on the other hand only continued to grow and get stronger. While growing up, the two of them spent majority of their time together.

Besides learning to be a hunter they also had to go to a regular school. They were currently in their second to the last year of high school. Sakura had also started volunteering with Tsunade, hoping to one day get taken on as her apprentice.

Most mornings played out the same way. Sakura would wake up and get ready for school then grab some toast or fruit for breakfast, making sure to grab some extra for Sasuke. Then the two of them would head over to school in Sakura's car. It wasn't a brand new fancy car, but a reasonable second-hand red sedan. It had a few dents here and there from when she lent it to Naruto.

"Bye mom we're leaving!" Sakura shouted before stepping out of the back door with an apple in hand. She vaguely heard her mom shout something back before closing the door. She took a bit of the apple as she walked up to Sasuke's house.

She knocked three times and called, "Sasuke, you awake? We need to go." After knocking again and receiving no response she opened the door. She cautiously opened the door and stuck her head inside. Sasuke was still out cold and looked perfectly content on sleeping the day away. That's what running around in the forest all night would do to someone. He was shirt less and lying face down in his body tangled in his rumpled blanket. The only thing he was wearing besides pants was the silver chain around his neck.

The association was able to come up with a more stylish model of the collar he used to ware. Rather than a clunky metal thing, it was now a nice silver braided chain with tiny red runes carved into the surface.

Sakura also had its red crystal counterpart carved into a crescent moon that was adhered to a thinner chain that she wore on her neck at all times. Since she was with him majority of the time it only made sense that she would have the crystal. She never once had to use it and she never think she will.

With a sigh she pushed the door open all the way and walked over to the bed to wake him up.

"Sasuke we're going to be late," she scolded as she shook his shoulder. "And what have I told you about sleeping naked."

He let out a muffled growl as he was slowly roused into the land of the living. "I'm not naked. I have pants on." There was a rather awkward situation when they were younger where Sakura barged into his house and he was sleeping completely naked. His excuse was that he was too tired and just went to bed after transforming back to a human. After that embarrassing moment he made sure to at least put on a pair of shorts before going o bed.

Sasuke pushed himself up and sat on the edge of his bed, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes. Sakura giggled and ruffled his messy hair.

"If you want to leave on time I suggest you get out so I can change." Even if he commanded her in a gruff voice she wasn't bothered by it at all. She was used to his tone and knew he didn't really mean it. Not being a morning person also contributed to his attitude. After ruffling his hair one more time she left his house and waited patiently outside.

It took him only a couple of minutes to get properly dressed and ready for the day. After getting dressed he went over to the main house to use their bathroom and brush his teeth. Sakura tossed him the apple she brought for him as he was closing the door.

He frowned a bit at the bites that were taken out of what was supposed to be his breakfast. "Thanks."

"Alright let's go!" Sakura laughed and raced to her car with Sasuke trailing behind her.

Mebuki smiled as she watched the two kids get into the car. Unlike most boys, Sasuke wasn't into cars. He claimed that they were loud and smelled horrible. He knew how to drive but he let Sakura do most of the driving since she seemed to enjoy it while he only drove when he had too.

"He turned out to be a really nice boy," Mebuki smiled at her husband, who was sitting at the table scanning the newspaper and drinking coffee.

Kizashi looked up and raised a brow at her. "If you can get past his attitude," he grumbled, "And don't forget that furry menace he turns into every now and then." While he didn't look at Sasuke with utter disgust and hate they weren't exactly best buds.

"They look awfully cute together," Mebuki giggled as she continued to stare out the window. Kizashi chocked and sputtered on his coffee. This wasn't the first time his wife had brought up something like this and it was starting to happen more frequently. "And he does take really good care of her."

Kizashi couldn't deny that. He coughed up the lingering coffee from his throat and chose to ignore his wife's comments. Sasuke was a good kid but he wasn't human, and that was a big thing in Kizashi's books. He gripped his injured leg beneath the table. "Too bad he's a wolf."

That broke the happy daze that Mebuki was in. The smile melted away from her face and was replaced with a frown. "Yeah, too bad."

* * *

><p>Sakura sped down the road towards their school, nearly running over a stray cat in the process. They were just barely going to make it on time. Sasuke really needed to wake up earlier.<p>

Sasuke rolled down the window and leaned against the door to let the gusts of wind rush against his face and hair. Sakura glanced over and giggled. "You look like a dog, hanging out the window like that." Her comment made him frown and pull away from the window. "I'm just joking. You don't need to pout," she teased.

"Someone's in a very cheery mood this morning," Sasuke said.

"There's a hunt tonight."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. Sakura was never truly interested in becoming a hunter, she just went through with it because it was what her family always did. "Since when did going on hunts made you happy?" he asked.

"Since this may be the last one I have to be on for a while. If we complete the assignment then we graduate." Hunters are normally never sent out on a mission alone and worked better in small groups. Allowing them to pick their own hunting parties makes it easier for them to bond and perform more cohesively. But tonight was a special case, because it was going to be their 'final' a much larger team was going to be sent out due to the difficulty to the task. "Then I can finally focus on what I really want to do."

Sakura's dream was to become a doctor. She spent most of her free time studying and shadowing her mother or Tsunade at the hospital.

"What's the assignment?" Sasuke asked.

"There's a disturbance at the base of the mountain that we need to check out. By the past few reports it looks like a flock of harpies are making a nest there."

Sasuke frowned. Harpies were basically bird people. They had gangly long limbs that were tipped with razor sharp bird talons. While resembling humans slightly they had ugly narrow pointed faces and a mouth of needle like teeth. Their most prominent feature were the feathers that sprouted from their bodies. The plumage normally ranged from black, brown, to white and sprouted down the length of the arms and around the head. A few also had feathers that covered the chest and torso. He hated those things. Besides being an eyesore they made horrible screeching noises that practically made his ears bleed.

"They're more annoying than Naruto but they shouldn't be too hard to drive off," Sasuke said. The harpies hadn't settled in yet so they won't be as protective of the area yet. As long as the flock wasn't too large they shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Sakura giggled, "That's not nice. You shouldn't say things like that about your best friend." Sasuke scoffed causing Sakura's giggling to evolve into laughter. "Anyway, are you coming with us?"

"Wouldn't that be cheating?" Sasuke normally joined them on the more dangerous assignments just to make sure Sakura was safe and Naruto didn't get all of them into too much trouble.

"What are the instructors going to do about it? Tell you to stay home? As if you would listen to them anyway," Sakura laughed. She had a point.

A smirk made its way across Sasuke's face. "Afraid to go without me?" he teased.

"I would feel safer if you came with us."

Sasuke's smirk disappeared and was replaced with a small smile. He turned back to face the window with his pleased expression. "I can't just leave you in the care of that dumbass. There's bound to be a dead body coming back otherwise." Sasuke didn't even flinch when Sakura smacked him playfully.

They pulled up to the school with a few minutes to spare. Stepping out of the care they saw their friends grouped up at a picnic table that was well shaded by nearby trees.

Accompanying their normal hunting party that consisted of Ino, Hinata, Shikamaru, Kiba, and of course Naruto, were a few more people. There was Chouji Akamichi, a rather large set boy who was almost constantly munching on something. This morning he was devouring a bag of his favorite potato chips. Chouji was commonly seen with Shikamaru and Ino since their parents were friends. He wasn't the fastest hunter or the best shot out there, but what he lacked in other areas he made up in brute strength. His rather wide girth actually had quite a bit of muscle.

When he teamed up with the other two, Chouji was often their first line of defense. While Ino and Shikamaru shot at their target with their own weapons Chouji would hang back with his mace to bash anything that came close to his teammates.

Chouji's mace looked like a giant sledge hammer. The head of the weapon was made of a special metal ore that was extremely hard and dense. The metal was rounded on the edges and had two iron strips wrapped around the center to secure it to the handle. Both Naruto and Kiba nearly threw out their backs trying to wield the giant monstrosity.

Shino Aburame; the silent sniper. He was a very soft spoken boy and tended to fade into the background, unintentionally. Often times he gets slightly peeved for getting over looked or forgotten when he was standing right there. The shades and hoodie he always wore only made him more secretive.

Shino was often sent out with Hinata and Kiba. Both Hinata and Kiba came from families that excelled in tracking. The three of them together were able to quickly locate their objective and finish it off just as fast. Shino preferred a long range rifle. He was able to blend into the shadows and easily pick off anything that came within range.

Along with those two there were a few people that were a year older than them. The first was Tenten, trapper and weapons specialist. She was fit was the other girls and wore her brown hair in two Chinese styled buns. She was adopted by one of the organization's families when she was vey young.

Give her anything sharp and pointy and she would be ecstatic. She was proficient with all the types of weapons that the organization had to offer, whether it's long range or short.

The next person was Lee. If his odd bowl cut or large bug like eyes didn't make him stand out his love for rather tight exercise clothes would. He was a fitness nut. Lee was constantly doing a variety of stretches and exercises.

He also had a huge crush on Sakura. On multiple occasions he would boisterously proclaim his undying love for her; which she would kindly turn down. Lee never seemed to notice how embarrassed Sakura would get by his proclamations of love or how Sasuke would get really irritated.

While he was very agile and tough he had no skill with a gun what so ever. It was an unspoken rule to never let him handle any kind of firearm. Where he lacked in his aim he made up for with his mastery of small hand weapons like knives and even nunchaku.

The last person was Neji Hyuuga. He was the one of the three seniors and Hinata's cousin. The cousins shared similar features, such as fair skin and very light colored eyes. But unlike his shy and quiet cousin, Neji had an attitude more like Sasuke. He was rough around the edges and kept mostly to himself. His long brown hair had led to some teasing in the past. But that was quickly ended when he would turn around and beat their ass.

The Hyuugas were a hunting family known for their overwhelming prowess. They had stupendous aim and excellent hand to hand combat kills. Neji was the best hunter to come out of that family in recent years.

"You guys are late!" Naruto shouted.

"The bell hasn't rung yet so technically we're on time," Sakura argued. They playfully argued until the warning bell began to sound. "And it doesn't matter if we're a few minutes late we have Kakashi first and he's always a few minutes later than us anyway."

True to her word, when it was time for class they were all sitting in classroom and missing their teacher.

* * *

><p>Because majority of them had different classes the next time they could come together was during lunch. They would sit around the same table that they met at in the morning. It was isolated enough from the other students that they could talk about their after school 'activities' without fear of civilians over hearing them.<p>

"So are you guys excited about your final test?" Teneten asked as she slid into the seat next to Ino.

"Of course! If we pass then there's no more of those boring classes," Naruto cheered. His excitement and enthusiasm was mimicked by Kiba and Chouji.

"But then we would be receiving assignments instead," Shikamaru complained as he lowered his head to rest on his arms that were folded on the table. The rest of them looked at him oddly. Wasn't that the point of finishing their lessons? To be able to go out and complete hunts.

Ino slapped the lazy boy on the shoulder, "They why try to be a hunter in the first place?" Shikamaru shrugged.

"We'll I'm sure the rest of you are excited," Tented said. She received firm nods in response.

They discussed the best ways to go about taking care of the flock of harpies. The group of almost-hunters went over different strategies and asked the older kids for their opinions. Although Neji, Tenten, and Lee only became hunters a year ago they had already gone on quite a few assignments.

Sasuke sat off to the side of the group leaning against a tree, not completely isolated but far enough where he could ignore them. He didn't mind them normally, but he still wouldn't consider himself a hunter and felt awkward in the current course of the conversation.

"Are you sure that you're going to come with us?" Sakura asked quietly, coming over to sit next to him.

"Yeah," he nodded. There was no way he was going to let her go out without him. Sakura was a good enough shot to protect herself but it would make him feel a whole lot better if he was there with her.

Sakura giggled at him seeming to know exactly what he was thinking. "Good boy," she smiled and ruffled his hair.

Sasuke grumbled lightly at first but quickly quieted. He would never admit to anyone that he enjoyed Sakura's affection. Sakura seemed to know that he liked her petting no matter how much he complained.

But of course Sasuke's happiness wouldn't last.

"Hey! No fair! I want Sakura to pet me too!"

Sasuke gave a frustrated snarl as Naruto bounced over to them and threw his arms around the two of them. "Get off loser." Sasuke shoved the other boy away from making Naruto pout. The others had finished their discussion and now focused on the two bickering boys. The two of them were always fighting about one thing or another. It was rather entertaining to say the least.

"Come on you always hog Sakura. You need to learn to share," Naruto continued to whine. "I want some love too."

"Shut up! You can't go off spouting things like that in public," Sasuke scolded. Anyone else who heard them would think Naruto was insane or creepy.

Naruto ignored the grouchy Sasuke and looked toward Sakura who was laughing at their antics. Seeing as he wasn't going to get the attention he wanted from Sakura he turned to the next viable person. "Hinata will you pet me?" His bright blue eyes sparkling.

Hinata turned bright red at his sudden blunt question. She looked down and began to twiddle her thumbs stuttering incoherently.

"Eh?" Naurto tilted his head curiously and leaned in closer trying to catch what she was saying. But before he could get any closer he was yanked backwards. The sudden movement caused him to let out a startled yip. He looked back to see a glaring Neji holding onto the collar of his shirt.

"What kind of question is that?" Neji asked, his eyes narrowing at the fox boy.

Not at all intimidated, Naruto began to explain his reasoning, "It feels really good you know and there's not many people that I would feel comfortable with. Sasuke and he gets all jealous when Sakura snuggles with me," he ignored Sasuke's angry outburst and continued, "Ino scares me, and you get mad when guys get to close to Tenten. Hinata's super kind, plus she smells nice. And the only person at home is the old perv. There is no way in hell that I'm going to ask him to pet me." His explanation seemed reasonable, but he forgot that Hinata had a very overprotective cousin.

But Neji's anger seemed to be slipping away to be replaced by embarrassment. "I don't get mad when people approach Tenten," he retorted.

"Not people, just guys," Tenten teased. She let out a small laugh and bumped Neji with her hip. The older boy released Naruto and looked away as his face heated up. Neji and Tenten were extremely close and they were all waiting for them to announce that they were finally officially together.

"What do you mean I'm scary!?" Ino shot up from her seat and slammed her fist onto the table.

"That's exactly what I mean!"

Sakura finally stifled her laughter and gently rested her hand on Naruto's head. "Aww you poor thing." The poor fox boy just wanted some love and attention.

"Do not worry Naruto! I will cuddle with you!" Lee exclaimed and moved towards a stunned Naruto with his arms out stretched.

Naurto quickly backpedaled, trying to put some distance between him and Lee. "Oh hell no. Get the fuck away from me!"

Their entire table had erupted into chaos. Sakura, Kiba, and Tenten were doubled over by hysterical laughter as they watched Naruto trying to escape Lee's grasp. Sasuke and Neji started brooding, irritation practically seeping from their bodies. Ino continued to yell profanities at Naruto while Hinata still hadn't recovered from her initial shock and sat there fidgeting.

"This is why the rest of the school population doesn't associate with us," Shino said as he watched as the craziness began to accelerate. Choji nodded in agreement crumbs falling from his cheeks and fingers while he devoured another bag of potato chips.

Shikamaru had conveniently fallen asleep at the table. How anyone could sleep through that racket was unbelievable.

* * *

><p>After a few more boring hours of school they headed to the hunters headquarters for a briefing. Their meeting ended rather quickly. It mostly covered possibilities where the harpies were nesting and the strategy that would be implemented.<p>

The nesting site was rather large and broke off into small groups. Due to the spread out nests the hunters were forced to break into their own teams. They would move out at dusk when the harpies' eye sight would be hindered. Many of the creatures they hunted were nocturnal so they were trained to work with little to no visibility so attacking during the night wouldn't bother them. But harpies are one of the few exceptions to the monsters they normally come across. Like most birds harpies have terrible sight at night.

The rest of the afternoon was spent gathering equipment and making sure their weapons were well prepared. Blades sharpened and an ample amount of access ammo.

The eight of them met in a clearing in the forest a bit always from where the nest was rumored to be located. Sasuke had agreed to meet them later. He could move through the forest much faster than them and decided to take a nap while they trekked to the meeting point.

The sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon when the last member of their band showed up. "Now that were all here lets have one last briefing," Shikamaru said as he pulled out a map of the area. "The nests should be along the base of the mountain. We'll split up into groups of three. Ino, Choji, and I will check the left side. Hinata, Kiba, and Shino will get the center. And Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura will get the right." Shikamaru pointed to the map and moved his finger along its base as he assigned them locations.

"Where is Sasuke anyway?" Kiba asked noticing that Naruto and Sakura had arrived by themselves.

Sakura shrugged, "He's on his way."

"Are we going for a total annihilation or are we chasing them out?" Shino asked. He had traded in his normal sunglasses for goggles that enhanced night vision.

"Either, but I think it will lead to a total eradication. If they had already started laying eggs then they aren't going to abandon the nests very easily," Shikamaru answered. Normally Shikamaru was extremely lazy and preferred to take naps and watch the clouds go by. But he was an excellent strategist and took his role rather seriously.

Ino's sudden startled shriek caused them all to jump. She whipped around, the end of her ponytail smacking Chouji in the face, and continued to yell. "God damn it! You need a bell or something!" she screamed.

The others, confused about her sudden outburst, gave her strange looks. But it all made sense after they noticed the huge wolf standing behind her. The wolf glared at her before walking towards Sakura. Sasuke was now fully grown and stood about chest height and was very intimidating. He ignored Ino's ranting and sat down next to Sakura who greeted him with a gentle pat and a scratch behind the ears.

When Sasuke had caught up to them he had attempted to peak around them to see the map that they were all focused on. Apparently Ino hadn't heard him approaching and freaked out when his fur brushed up against her leg.

"Now that we're all here, and Ino's alerted everything in the forest about our location, should we get going?" Kiba joked. Ino turned her angry glare towards Kiba instead.

"About time you got here," Naruto cheered, "Kiba's right let's get going." He pumped his fist in enthusiasm swinging around his rifle as he did so.

"Watch it!" Sakura scolded. The barrel of the gun swinging past her face. His actions were rewarded with a not so gentle punch to the shoulder.

Naruto held his pained arm and whined, "Owww Sakura. How am I supposed to shot things if I can't use my arm?"

With a deep sigh and a shake of the head Shikamaru turned away from the bickering duo and headed towards his team's assigned location. The others followed his lead until it was only Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura remaining.

Sasuke watched as they last person disappeared into the foliage. He continued to sit there as Saukra and Naruto argued. When it seemed like they two of them weren't going to stop fighting Sasuke stood up and prodded Sakura's side with his nose.

"What is it?" she asked. Now that she had broken eye contact with Naruto it gave her a chance to notice what had happened around her. "Uh, where'd everyone go?" The absence of the others were suddenly brought to Naruto's attention.

"I don't believe they left already! We can't let them beat us; let's go!" Naruto shouted and took off into the forest.

"Naruto, wait!" Sakura shouted and ran after him. Sasuke let out an aggravated sigh and started walking leisurely after them. It would take a few minutes for Sakura to catch him, or for Naruto to notice that he had started off in the wrong direction.

After a few minutes of walking, Sasuke caught up to them. He smirked at the scene in front of him. Naruto was sitting on the ground pouting while Sakura gave him a thorough scolding. As amusing as it was it was time for them to go.

"So which way is it then?" Naruto asked, scratching the back of his head nervously.

Sakura groaned in annoyance and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

* * *

><p>After finally heading down the right path the trio were finally approaching the base of the mountain. They had ceased all talking to avoid giving away their position. All of a sudden Sasuke stopped his hears perked and his head raised as he sniffed the air.<p>

Behind him Naruto and Sakura stopped and raised their weapons. Most likely Sasuke had heard or smelt something that they hadn't noticed yet.

_Blood_

Sasuke could smell blood coming from the direction that they were headed. Had one of the others finished off their nest and had started working on clearing theirs. But even their small detour wouldn't give the others enough time to accomplish that.

The fur along his back and shoulders rose as the smell of blood got stronger. Noticing his slowed pace and stiff posture, Naruto and Sakura knew that something was amiss. Their senses were on full alert as they moved as silently as possible.

As they neared their destination the smell only continued to get stronger. Even Naruto and Sakura could smell it now. It was sickening. The air was filled with its coppery smell.

Sakura pushed aside a low hanging branch and gasped loudly. They had found the harpy nest, but it wasn't anything like they had expected.

The face of the mountain that the harpies had made their nests along the mountain side was red with blood. Harpy nests that resembled enormous bird nests were tattered and destroyed. The dead mangled bodies lay scattered throughout the area. The ground was speckled by a layer of harpy feathers. The plumage that wasn't soaked in blood still fluttered in the night air.

Sakura gaged and covered her face with her hands, dropping her crossbow. Her face turned white and pasty. She could normally handle blood and gore from volunteering in the hospital, but this was just too much.

"What the hell happened here?" Naruto gasped. The fox boy gripped his rifle so tightly that his hands began to shake and his knuckles turned white. It wasn't uncommon for harpies to fight amongst themselves for one reason or another but this was different. This was a massacre.

They were trained to make clean kills. Preferably ending the prey's life with a single shot. What happened here was beyond what Naruto and Sakura had experienced. Sasuke on the other hand had seen something gruesome like this before.

The dead harpies changed into his dead family. Sasuke shut his eyes tightly and willed the images away. His family were long dead. There was nothing he could do about it. When he reopened his eyes they corpses had changed back into harpies.

Swallowing thickly and pushing down his nausea, Sasuke took a closer look at the bodies. The bird people had huge lacerations on their arms and torso. Some of the deeper gut wounds were horrific. Entrails had been dragged out of the bodies to rot on the ground. A few harpies had deep looking puncture wounds that were oozing a pale yellow substance. The most obvious to him were the deadly looking bite marks, killing blows. The bites were huge, taking out large amounts of the harpies flesh.

This obviously wasn't the work of a hunter. Something had attacked the nesting site before that had. Movement among the corpses near the base of the mountain side drew their attention. Some kind of beast was moving around in the darkness. The limited light from the moon reflected off bright blue eyes.

This monster turned to look at them, a dead harpy clutched tightly in its jaws. Blood dripped ominously from the body and onto the already soiled ground. The creature dropped its prey to the ground and began walking towards them.

Sasuke let out a fierce growl and bared his fangs menacingly. Next to him Naruto raised the rifle in his shaky hands. Slightly behind them, Sakura had yet to recover. Sometime after they arrived she had sunk to the ground and hadn't moved. Her hands were still cupped firmly around her mouth, her eyes wide and fearful.

Once the creature was out of the shadow of the mountain the moonlight showed them what they were up against.

It was a large lion like creature. Its red fur was stained almost black with blood from its earlier kills around its paws and muzzle. The most prominent feature was the large black bat wings that extended from its back. A scorpion-like tail swished behind the monster as it approached. Pointed spines stuck out from the base of the deadly scorpion barb.

_Manticore!_

**A/N: This is the last time skip the rest of the story is going to be taking place while they're this age. Hope everyone enjoyed! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**A/N: Someone reviewed and asked if Sasuke and Sakura are going to be a couple. The answer is simply, yes. When? Eventually :P**

Sakura recognized the beast from class. This hunt was going to be far harder than they expected. While they could handle a few harpies a deadly monster like the manticore would make for a real challenge.

Naruto fired the first shot. The beast dropped to a crouch causing the bullet to miss its mark. The manticore snarled at him and charged.

Fear sunk into Naruto's being making him freeze. The blood soaked monster was closing in quickly, its gaze locked onto the boy in front of it. He fumbled with his gun struggling to reload.

As the manticore closed in, Sasuke leapt forward. While Sasuke was pretty big the manticore was much larger than he was. His jaws tried close around the creature's neck but the manticore's thick mane prevented him from doing much damage. The manticore was knocked off balance but managed to right itself by flapping its powerful wings.

The beast turned its head to snap at him, narrowly missing. Sasuke hung on tightly as the manticore began to thrash around and beating him with its bat like wings. Rather than wasting his strength on an attack that wasn't doing any harm he let go and pushed himself away. Luckily for Sasuke he released just on time to avoid getting impaled with the manticore's scorpion like tail.

The manticore shook itself, finally free of the leech that clung to its neck. By now Naruto had finally recovered and began to open fire on the beast. The manticore roared angrily as the bullets pierced its skin. Some blood splattered the ground but no real damage was done.

Ignoring the pain the manticore charged at Naruto. The fox boy was able to swiftly jump to the side avoiding the deadly claws that whizzed by. But he wasn't expecting one of the wings to unfurl. The manticore's wing struck him hard in the chest, knocking the rifle from his hand and sending him flying into a nearby tree trunk.

Naruto hit the tree with a sickening thud and collapsed to the ground in a heap. He groaned in pain and barely managed to stay conscious.

The manticore approached the dazed boy slowly. Its muscles coiling, preparing to pounce. The beast's ears flicked to the side picking up the noise of pounding footsteps. Sasuke's attack was thwarted when the manticore was able to easily dodge his initial blow and counter.

The manitcore jumped into the air, reaching the top of the trunk just below the canopy in a single jump. The height of the jump was greatly increased by a flap of its powerful wings. While the manticore's muscular body was too heavy for flight its wings allowed it to leap great distances.

From this position the monster pushed off the tree and shot towards Sasuke.

Sasuke was forced to retreat to avoid the maticore's slashing claws. He managed to maneuver himself between Naruto and the raging manticore. The depression in the ground showed how much power was behind the enemies blow. But now both of them were cornered. He snarled and snapped his jaws threateningly, but nothing deterred the beast's approach.

But the manticore was stopped once again from making a kill. This time sustaining major damage as a silver bolt sunk deep into its left socket. The maticore reared up roaring in agony and thrashing its head back and forth trying to dislodge the bolt that had sunk deep into its eye. Its wings flapped wildly, kicking up a thin cloud of dust around them.

Sakura held her crossbow up to her eye. Her arms quivered occasionally, showing that she still hadn't gotten completely over her fear. She was broken out of her stupor when Naruto and Sasuke had gotten themselves cornered. She struggled to hold her weapon steady, but she came through for them in the end.

While the manticore tried desperately to remove the bolt from its eye Naruto was able to recover from the blow and moved to stand next to Sakrua. Having lost his gun earlier he was forced to use the hunting knife that he had secured to his belt. Sasuke followed him and stood defensively before them.

"Thanks Sakura," Naruto said. She nodded in response and knocked another bolt into her crossbow.

One of the manticore's claws caught the bolt and pulled it out of the beast's eye. The silver shaft fell to the ground and was almost instantly smothered by a stream of blood. The entire left side of the manticore's face was wet with blood. Enraged, the beast turned to them. They could see its hatred and anger burning through them from its one good eye.

It roared angrily at them; the sound reverberating throughout the forest. The three of them jumped when another roar came from directly behind them.

They turned swiftly to see another manticore coming out of the forest. They were trapped between two deadly monsters.

Sasuke stepped forward and growled back at the approaching creature. While Sasuke faced off against the new comer, Naruto and Sakura turned back to the manticore that they were fighting a moment ago. They had faith that Sasuke could hold off the other manticore while they finished off the one that was already injured.

Behind them they could hear Sasuke and the manticore fighting. The sound of growling and snapping jaws filled the area.

One-eye's gaze flicked between the two teens before finally settling on Naruto. The boy knew immediately that he had been targeted and raised his hunting knife defensively. Fear still surged through his body, but he knew that he couldn't let it control him or it would mean certain death. He growled back at the beast, his eyes darkened to red and his canines elongated into long fangs.

Sakura's eyes widened at the sight of her friend. She knew about Naruto's past revolving around the demon fox, but this was the first time that she had seen him look so terrifying. She was used to seeing him with cute fox ears and a fully tail-not this.

She pushed those thoughts of her friend to the back of her and raised her crossbow. One-eye lunged at Naruto, claws unsheathed and jaw gaping. Naruto quickly jumped to the left, making use of the monster's blind side, and slashed diagonally with his knife. Unable to see out of its injured eye the manticore was unable to dodge the blade that cut deep into its shoulder. The blade of the knife easily split flesh, causing a spray of blood to splatter Naruto.

In a pained rage, One-Eye swung its tail violently catching Naruto in the gut. The blow knocked the wind out of him and threw him to the ground. The beast turned to look at him with its good eye. But before it could launch an attack another bolt sunk into its side.

While aiming for the heart, Sakura's bolt hurried itself deep into the beast's chest. When the manticore didn't die Sakura knew that she had missed her mark. The beast coughed up blood, its breath coming out in ragged gasps. She may have not killed the beast, but she was sure that she had at least pierced a lung.

Naruto let out a fearsome growl and threw himself at the beast. Caught off guard, One-Eye lost its footing and crumpled to the ground. The manitcore noticed a different scent coming from the boy. He no longer smelt like a human. A demon's odor was wafting from the boy.

Naruto used his weight to press down on the manticore's injured chest and struggled to hold it down. His enhanced demon strength allowed him to keep the beast pinned. He raised his knife above his head and prepared to end the beast's life.

Before Naruto could bring his knife down the manticore swiped at him again with its tail. Seeing the attack from the corner of his eye gave Naruto the few seconds he needed to avoid being impaled at the end of the scorpion like tail. The barb of the tail caught his shirt and created a huge tare in the shoulder area.

Naruto inspected the tare to see if the attack broke skin. The manticore's tail was laden with venom like a normal scorpions. Getting injected with its deadly venom could prove to be fatal.

While he inspected his shoulder the manticore chose that moment to strike. Naruto barely managed to raise his knife in time to defend himself.

He was forced onto his back while the monster pinned him down. The blade of the knife clashed with the manticore's fangs keeping the monsters powerful jaws from clamping down on him. The beast's horrid breath flooded Naruto's senses.

"Oh god! You need a fucking breath mint," he gaged. To make things worse saliva from the fangs began dripping down his arms and onto his face. The manticore pressed down on him, its fangs inching closer to his face.

Just in time another bolt stuck the monster's body. One-Eye reared his head back roaring in agony. The sudden movement yanked the knife out of Naruto's hands. But this was an opportunity that he wasn't going to miss. By throwing its head back One-Eye exposed its throat to Naruto.

He might have lost his knife but he still had another weapon. Sharp claws formed from his fingernails. Before he missed his chance, Naruto slashed at the monster above him. His claws tore into the manticore's throat the same time another bolt from Sakura's crossbow struck the beast in the head.

One-Eye's body stiffened for just a moment before becoming limp and lifeless. The dead body slumped forward and landed on Naurto who was still lying beneath it.

"Just great," he groaned between clenched teeth. Sakura dropped her crossbow and went over to help him. His enhanced demon strength allowed him to lift the dead manticore. But even then the corpse was heavy and difficult to move. With Sakura's help they managed to lift the body enough for Naruto to wiggle out.

The two of them observed their kill as they caught their breath. No words were exchanged, but Naruto couldn't stop the grin from spreading across his face. Their first real hunt was a success! He gave Sakura a thumbs up that was returned with a happy grin from the pink haired girl.

But their victory was ripped away from them by the sound of a pained yelp. The whipped around to see the other manticore attacking Sasuke. The beast's had him pinned, one paw was pressed on his chest while the other was digging into his flank.

The pair acted instantly. Naruto retrieved his knife and ran at the manticore with a loud war cry. Sakura quickly scrambled to load her crossbow and let out a wild shot. Naruto's shouting drew the manticore's attention away from Sasuke.

The beast abandoned its current target and charged at Naruto. It dodged Sakura's first shot and pounced at Naruto. The fox boy rolled out of the way to avoid the beast's claws and swinging tail. Naruto continued to dodge blow after blow. He didn't want to risk getting closer to a healthy manticore. Their last opponent was vulnerable and week due to its new blindness. But this monster would shred him to ribbons if he got as close as he did in his last encounter.

Sasuke struggled to his feet. His right leg had enormous claw marks gouged into his flesh. Blood flowed in rivers down his injured limb soaking his fur. By the time he managed to take one step Sakura was by his side.

"Don't move," Sakura instructed. She leaned in close to inspect the wound. She touched the edges tenderly but even the slight pressure made him whine. She motioned for him to lay back down to she could attempt to treat him. "I don't have much supplies with me to treat a wound this large. This will have to do until we head back." She pulled out a roll of bandages and a large patch of gauze and began quickly working to cover the wound.

Sasuke let out a growl as she pressed on the injury. When she was finished she pressed her face into his shoulder and ran her fingers through the fur on his back. She was very concerned, simply bandaging the wound wouldn't help. The depth and the size of the injury required stiches, and a lot of them.

A fierce growl rumbled in Sasuke's chest making Sakura looked up. Naruto barely managed to avoid another slash from the manticore. It was obvious that he was tiring. Sasuke tried to get up once again only for Sakura to hold him down. "Don't even think about it."

After making sure that Sasuke wasn't going anywhere, Sakura raised her crossbow again and began firing. A few of the bolt met their mark but due to the mobility of this manticore they didn't hit any vital spots.

They were lucky to take down the first manticore, but beating this one was going to be much more difficult. Sasuke normally didn't like asking for help, but this time he didn't have a choice. He sat up and threw his head back and let out a loud howl. The sound reverberated through the forest.

There was no other wolves around to understand what he was saying, but the message was still received. After a few more minutes of battling with the manticore the tide was finally going to be turning in their favor.

Sakura was out of bolts and Naruto had lost his knife when he stabbed the creature. The blade had stuck in the creature's wing and he was knocked away before he could remove it. Without weapons they were dead.

The manticore had cornered the three of them and was slowly stalking towards them. It was breathing heavily its body was spotted with minor injuries.

A small ball bounced into the area they were fighting and rolled to a stop between them. Sakura recognized it immediately.

"Flash bomb!"

The three of them instantly closed their eyes and turned their heads away. And not a moment too late. The bomb exploded filling the forest with a bight blinding light. The manticore roared angrily and stumbled. It shook its head back and forth trying to clear the spots from its vison.

While it was distracted a multitude of gunshots rang out in the night. The manticore wobbled and struggled to stay upright before finally collapsing. It was dead before it hit the ground.

The rest of their hunting party emerged from the brush their weapons of choice still raised. Each of them slowly lowered their weapons once they confirmed that the beast was dead.

"Holy shit! What is that?" Kiba shouted. He kicked the corpse with his boot. "This is no harpy."

"It's a manticore. The pair of them killed the harpy nest that was here," Naruto informed them of their find. His demonic features faded as soon as the threat was gone. Luckily for him no one seemed to notice the change.

"We need to head back now!" Sakura shouted while digging through her bag. She pulled out a pair of shorts from her field bag and tossed it to Sasuke. Sakura made sure to carry at least an extra pair of pants incase Sasuke had to change back into a human, less he run around in the buff. "Change back quickly. Let us help you walk."

Everyone in the area could see the blood already beginning to seep through the bandages. Sasuke needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible. Wanting to give him some privacy they turned their backs while Sasuke changed back into human form.

The change back was painful. The shifting and stretching of his muscles aggravated the gashes on his leg. Sasuke screamed and clutched his leg as his transformation came to an end.

Sakura worked as fast and efficiently as she could. His bandaged needed to be readjusted to fit snuggly on his much smaller human leg. Once that was finished she gently pulled him to his feet and helped him step into the shorts.

Sasuke had his arm slung around her shoulders allowing him to take his weight off his bad leg. When they started walking the others turned around at the sound of their footsteps.

Immediately Naruto came up to them. "Let me carry him." Sasuke was taller and broader than Sakura making it difficult for her to support him.

"You're hurt too," Sakura argued. While Naruto had suffered nothing too severe he had managed to get a few large scratches and a couple of bruises.

Naruto was about to protest but Chouji and Shino stepped up. "Don't worry we got him," Chouji said cheerfully. He took Sasuke's arm from Sakura and draped it over his shoulder. Shino wordlessly did the same with his other arm.

Sasuke let out a disgruntled growl as they started to move. Sakura rested a hand gently on his back to quiet him. She knew that touching wasn't really his thing. But the faster they could get him to the hospital for treatment the better.

Their pace was low but Sasuke couldn't move any faster. Kiba and Akamaru ran ahead to give the hospital a heads up. They couldn't just walk through the front with Sasuke bleeding out like that. Civilians would surely come around snooping.

The rest of them moved in a protective circle around Sasuke, Chouji, and Shino with the exception of Sakura who stayed next to them.

Sasuke's gaze drifted from one person to the next. Their treatment suppressed him, he was never really close to them and considered them more acquaintances than actual friends. He had kept all of them except for Naruto and Sakura at arm's length. But they treated him like he was important to them, like friends. Maybe he misjudged these hunters. Or perhaps he wasn't able to think properly due to blood loss.

When they reached the edge of the forest there as a few cars waiting for them. It was some of the association's SUVs. "I already called the hospital," Kiba said while opening one of the rear doors. They carefully helped Sasuke into the car and hurried to the hospital.

Once they reached the hospital they took Sasuke through the back entrance down to the bottom floors. By the time they got him seated in the examining table the bandage on his leg was soaked through and small streams of blood flowed down his leg.

The bright light of the hospital sowed how pale and pasty his complexion had become due to blood loss.

Everyone else opted for either waiting outside or heading back to the base yard to report the success of their mission. Sakura was the only one to remain in the exam room with him. Naruto wanted to stay with the two of them but a few nurses forced him into his own exam room to patch up his few minor injuries.

After only a few moments of waiting the door slammed open, rattling on its hinges.

"Who is bleeding all over my floor?! We just got this place cleaned!" Tsunade shouted as she burst into the room. Sakura looked on dumbfounded and Sasuke scoffed. "Oh it's you. I'm assuming the hunt was a success?" she asked.

"Yes, but there was a few unexpected circumstances." Sakura answered, her gaze dropped to her hands clasped tightly in her lap. She knew that she was over reacting. Sasuke wasn't going to die from his injuries, but seeing him in so much pain really bothered her.

"Of course there was," Tsunade placed her hands on her hips as she spoke with her disciple, "You can't expect everything to follow the ideal procedure and go as planned. It's almost required that something unexpected occurs and sends your well made plans straight to shit."

"Yeah, your right." Sakura kept her head lowered, starting to feel a bit down. She strived to improve herself, to be better. She took everything to heart. Hearing such disappointment from someone she looked up to so much was hard to stomach.

Sasuke knew that Sakura didn't take harsh criticism well and decided to intervene. "Still bleeding here," he grumbled. His grouchiness drew the attention of the two other occupants of the room.

Tsunade blinked a few times at him, as if just remembering that he was there. The head doctor of the hospital swayed slightly as she made her way over to Sasuke.

It was then that Sakura noticed that her aunt's cheeks were slightly more rosy than usual. She stood up abruptly and shouted, "Are you drunk?!" All her meekness forgotten.

"Only a little," Tsunade waved her off with a few flicks of her wrist, "Now let's see what we have here." She leaned in a pulled away the bandages. Sasuke hissed when the wounds were reintroduced to the air.

After inspecting the damage done to his leg she made her way over to the cabinets and pulled out some surgical suture and a needle. "Nothing a few stiches can't fix."

"Aren't you even going to disinfect it first?!" Sakura was appalled at the misconduct that was happening before her.

Tsunade mumbled something that sounded like 'Oh, right' before moving back to the cabinet and pulling out the missing supplies and some anesthetic.

Sakura plucked the things from Tsunade's hands. "Maybe I should do it. My hands are a bit steadier than yours." One glance at Sasukue and Sakura could tell he was not about to let a drunk Tsunade get anywhere close to him with a needle. Tsunade shrugged and motioned for her to get started.

When Sakura approached him Sasuske raised an eyebrow curiously. "Have you ever done this before?"

Sakura smiled sheepishly at him, "Not really. I'm only a volunteer and technically I'm not allowed to be doing stuff like this."

"Great, I'm going to come out looking like Frankenstein." Sakura was about to get upset with him, but his slight smirk told her that he was only joking with her. Anyone other than Sakura would have missed the signs and would have been offended.

"Maybe I should let Aunty Tsunade work on you," she whispered. Sasuke's growl made her giggle.

With Tsunade supervising Sasuke's stiches were competed in a well-mannered fashion.

After Sakura finished cleaning up the dried blood from Sasuke's leg, Tsunade leaned in to inspect the stiches. "Not bad. Not bad. Now that you won't bleed out we need to replenish the blood that you lost. But we don't exactly have wolf blood in storage."

"Can his body accept a transfusion with human blood?" Sakura asked. They never had a situation like this before.

"We'll find out soon. We can give him a small bit to start off with and watch his body for any negative responses. Hopefully his body won't reject it."

"And if it does?" Sasuke scowled.

"A little bit shouldn't harm you but large doses may make you really sick." With that said she left the room to pick up some bags of blood.

"How does she manage a hospital drunk?" Sasuke turned to ask Sakura.

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know how she does it." For someone who spends most of her spare time, and even her work time drinking Tsunade was one of the best doctors around. "But you can't argue with her results. How are you feeling?"

Sasuke dragged a hand down his face and let out a deep sigh. "A bit lightheaded." Sakura leaned against the table and wrapped her arms around him and pressed her forehead to unto his shoulder. Normally Sasuke would stiffen up and reject physical contact such as this. But as always, Sakura was the exception. She avoided hugging and petting him in public because she knows it makes him uncomfortable, but when they were alone she was much less reserved.

"I'm sorry you got hurt. You don't benefit from these hunter things at all but you still help us out." Her voice cracked towards the end of the sentence, tears forming in her eyes.

Sasuke slowly unwrapped her arms and held both her hands in his larger ones. She was unable to hide the few stray tears that trailed down her cheeks. "Don't feel sorry for things you can't control. I would have gone with you no matter what the focus was. And I still would, because-"

Before he could finish Tsunade returned with as much enthusiasm as the first time. The door was bound to fly off its hinges soon. "Here we go!" She stared at them for a few seconds as she soaked in the scene that she had just interrupted. "What are you doing? Why is Sakura crying mongrel?"

"It's not him I'm just being over emotional," Sakura smiled and wiped the tears off her face. Tsunade and Sasuke glared at each other before they were interrupted by the squeaking of wheel against the tiled hospital floor.

A smiling nurse pushed a wheelchair into the room. "Here you go kid." Tsunade motioned to the chair with a smile. Sasuke's dark expression clearly expressed his reluctance to use the wheelchair. "If you don't stay of that leg for a while the stiches are going to come off," Tsunade scolded, "I will put a cone on you if you pick at them."

Sakura couldn't hold back a laugh as she imagined Sasuke with a cone around his neck.

At the threat Sasuke growled at her, "There is no way in hell I would let you put something so demeaning on me."

"Down boy, it was a joke," Tsunade laughed. "Now hurry up we don't have all night. The table isn't very comfortable so we're moving you to a room. We'll start the transfusion there."

With the threat of a drunk Tsunade redoing his stiches if they ripped open while trying to walk, Sasuke sat in the wheelchair while they moved him to a room. Sakura convinced the nurse to let her push the wheelchair and after a small growl from Sasuke she gladly agreed. She mumbled something about other patients to attend to as she quickly took her leave.

Once he was settled nicely in the bed they began the blood transfusion. He had machines connected to him to monitor his vitals. "How's it feel?" Tsunade asked.

"It stings a little but it dissipates as it passes my elbow," Sasuke answered. He winced a little as Tsunade prodded his arm.

"Everything looks normal. A bit more then we can take you off this thing. You heal extraordinarily fast so a little bit of boost should be all that you need to regenerate on your own." Tsunade smiled at him before waving and heading toward the door. "I'll see you in the morning. Call if you need anything. And Sakura needs to go to bed so say good night."

Sakura hung around a few minutes more to make sure that Sasuke was truly comfortable now that the transfusion was over.

"You better get going before she comes back and you're still here," Sasuke said.

"I'll come see you in the morning. Behave and don't cause too much trouble," Sakura teased. Sasuke rolled his eyes at her, making her giggle.

With Sasuke's healing ability he should be healed enough to be able to walk around without too much discomfort. If he was lucky Tsunade would even let him come home. When Sakura left the hospital she was surprised to see Naruto, Hinata, and Ino waiting there.

"It's about time!" Ino complained, "So how is he?"

"A bunch of stiches but he's going to be fine. How is everyone else doing?" Sakura asked. Naruto had a few bandages here and there but was still as hyper as ever. Hinata had a rather large gauze patch on her cheek. Sakura started to feel bad. She had been so focused on Sasuke that she hadn't noticed that anyone else had gotten hurt.

"N-nothing really serious, just some small cuts here and there," Hinata answered and gently touched the gauze on her face.

"Those stupid bird brains! Scratching Hinata's pretty face!" Naruto shouted.

His ranting was interrupted when Ino smacked him in the back of the head. "Shut up! Do you know what time it is?! There are patients that are probably trying to sleep." That began a rather loud argument between the two blonds while Hinata turned bright red at Naruto's compliment about her being pretty.

Sakura checked her phone and was shocked to find that it was already past midnight. She wasn't too surprised that Naruto was still here and Naruto's presence also meant that Hinata would most likely be there too. But she never expected Ino to wait around this long.

"We should probably head home now, it's getting late," Sakura spoke up. She had to raise her voice a little so that Ino and Naruto could hear her over their bickering.

"Uh, about that," Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "I kind of hung around because I don't have a ride. Jiraiya dropped me off earlier and he's not answering his phone. He's probably fast asleep by now."

Hinata had to struggle to find her voice as she practically whispered, "I can give you a ride home Naruto."

Naruto's eyes lit up and practically sparkled. "Really? That would be awesome! Thank you!" He gave Hinata a big bear hug that made her face light up like a Christmas tree. Naruto chattered the whole way to the car while Hinata tried and failed to hide her blush.

"I think he does that on purpose," Ino said. "I mean he could have asked anyone for a ride and he waits until it's just the three of us left."

"I think it's cute," Sakura giggled. Hinata liked Naruto for so long but she's too shy to be more forward and Naruto is oblivious. Well, maybe not as oblivious as everyone seems to think. Hinata had a crush on Naruto since they were children but she could never muster up the courage to speak more than a few sentences to him. "He finally started paying more attention to her after we started high school. I'm happy for her."

"It was after Hinata started growing boobs," Ino commented. Sakura gaped at her friend. "Come on, you have to admit they're huge!" Sakura and Ino were a bit jealous that Hinata was blessed with a rather large chest. Sakura looked down at her own not so developed breasts and sighed. "I guess Tsunade took the big boobs gene and didn't leave you with much."

"Shut up Ino!" She didn't need a reminder how flat she was compared to her voluptuous aunt.

Luckily Naruto and Hinata were far enough away so they couldn't overhear the conversation the two girls were having. They smiled as they watched their two friends drive off. Finally, Ino had been waiting forever to talk to Sakura. "So how are you feeling? You looked kinds freaked out earlier." The playful air from just moments ago was replaced with a much more serious tone.

"Sasuke's going to be fine. I was just really worried about him, those were nasty lacerations."

"You're so lucky that you have Sasuke," Ino whined.

Sakura smiled, "Yeah we were. Without Sasuke those manticore would have probably killed Naruto and I."

"I wasn't talking about that Forehead. I meant his body! He's fucking hot and you get to see him naked all the time!" Ino covered her blushing cheeks with the palms of her hands as she began to giggle. Ino never did like serious conversations.

Now it was Sakura who turned bright red. "What do you mean by that?! He has to shift sometimes but it not like I see him naked each time."

"But there's other times you get to see that fine ass too right?" Ino waggled her eyebrows suggestively at Sakura.

"No! I mean were just friends," Sakura's voice trailed off at the end and looked shyly at her friend. It would be just like Ino to wait for her that long just to gossip and embarrass her.

Ino narrowed her eyes and smirked at her. "But you like him right? It's so obvious. And he probably likes you too. I try to be nice to him and all, but I would be lucky to get a few words out of him. He holds you on a different level than the rest of us."

"You really think so?" Sakura smiled, hope filled her and replaced the embarrassment that Ino was causing. She knew from when she was a child that she loved Sasuke, but she never thought that there was a chance that he would feel the same way. He saw her as family, someone to care for and protect. But did he love her that way?

"Yeah. It's like the perfect love story! A little freaky though…"

"Why would it be freaky?"

Ino paused and contemplated her answer a bit before answering, "Well, I don't know what you're into, but I'll pass on the beastiality."

Sakura never blushed that much in her entire life.


End file.
